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Elon Musk Breaks Ground on Tesla's Shanghai Factory (cnbc.com)
Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Shanghai Mayor Ying Yong celebrated on Monday the ground breaking of the electric automaker's first non-U.S. factory. From a report: "China is becoming the global leader in electric vehicle adoption, and it is a market that is critical to Tesla's mission to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy," Musk said, according to a company statement coinciding with the ceremony for the Shanghai factory. In Twitter posts before the event, Musk said that the factory will produce "affordable versions" of Model 3 and Model Y vehicles for the Greater China region, and that the plan is to "finish initial construction this summer, start Model 3 production end of year and reach high volume production next year."
According to the company, the so-called Gigafactory in Shanghai "will allow Tesla to localize production of Model 3 and future models sold in China, with plans to eventually produce approximately 3,000 Model 3 vehicles per week in the initial phase and to ramp up to 500,000 vehicles per year when fully operational (subject to local factors including regulatory approval and supply chain constraints)."
According to the company, the so-called Gigafactory in Shanghai "will allow Tesla to localize production of Model 3 and future models sold in China, with plans to eventually produce approximately 3,000 Model 3 vehicles per week in the initial phase and to ramp up to 500,000 vehicles per year when fully operational (subject to local factors including regulatory approval and supply chain constraints)."
It had been leaked previously that the Shanghai factory would only be producing the Model 3 and Model Y. Model S and X would continue to be built exclusively in California. But earlier this morning Elon tweeted that it would only be producing the least-expensive versions of the 3 and Y. The Performance version of the 3 in particular is apparently going to be made only in California. That was a bit surprising. It looks like the rest of the world is going to have to pay a rather sizable premium for that top versions of the Model 3 compared to the price of the base vehicles.
I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar.
On the other hand, it's quite possible that the cheapest versions of the Model 3 will be cheaper in China than in the rest of the world. Labour and supplier costs are certainly lower there than in Fremont.
Battery cell costs are an open question. Panasonic isn't going to be as closely involved there as they are with Tesla's US operations; Tesla plans to use predominantly Chinese cell suppliers.
Musk needs a safer hobby than Twitter. Fire juggling? Cage fighting? Solo hot air balloon trips?