How much does China matter to Tesla
China is the fastest growing market for Tesla. The article by Giuseppe Gagliano
Last year China became the fastest growing market for Tesla to the point that China is now the largest electric vehicle market in the world – let's not forget that the Chinese government aims to ensure that electric vehicles can make up 40% of all vehicle sales by 2030.
Let's see some data. First, Tesla, which does not operate as a joint venture, saw its Model 3 rank as the second best-selling electric vehicle in China in April 2021.
Tesla began selling vehicles in China in 2014, but faced several hurdles before taking its step. During 2015, vehicle delivery delays and negative perceptions of charging options led to poor sales. A 25% tariff on imported vehicles has also increased the cost of the car, making it less affordable than locally sourced options. As of last March, the cheapest Tesla model has sold for around $ 49,900 in China.
However, Tesla has installed thousands of electric vehicle chargers to address the concerns. By 2016, the company reported that it had delivered 11,000 vehicles and saw over $ 1 billion in revenue in China, which is more than 15% of Tesla's total annual revenue.
The following year, the automaker announced that it would build a factory in Shanghai in order to increase its sales volume, eventually establishing a facility in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone in order to avoid finding a joint venture partner and better protect its intellectual property.
Second, in 2017, Tesla announced that it had sold a 5% stake in the company to Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings for $ 1.8 billion, a move that symbolized its ongoing connection to the Chinese market. It was able to open its first 'gigafactory' in Shanghai in 2019 to produce batteries and cars, and by 2020 it produced 140,000 Model 3 vehicles.
Third, in 2021, it doubled its factory size to produce Model Y cars, leading to record sales for Tesla Shanghai and more cost-competitive vehicles. And at the end of the year, Tesla's production in China represented roughly half of its 936,000 vehicles delivered globally.
Fourth, the company began manufacturing charging stations at its Supercharger factory in Shanghai, adding around 7,000 Supercharger stalls in China by last August. It also completed its “Silk Road” Supercharger route in June, making long-distance travel from east to west in China more accessible.
Tesla will likely continue to expand its reach in China's long-term electric vehicle market despite the fact that the Chinese government has said it will cut subsidies on new energy vehicles by 30 percent this year, before completely phasing them out at the end of the year. 'year. Indeed, in addition to the prestige that Chinese consumers receive by purchasing the American vehicle, the production capacity and support infrastructure that Tesla has created in China should protect it from any setbacks.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/cina-tesla/ on Sat, 11 Jun 2022 04:33:09 +0000.