BEIJING (EFE) – Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang highlighted Tesla's development in the Asian giant as “an example of successful economic and trade cooperation between China and the United States”, during a meeting with the CEO. From Elon Musk's company.
Musk, who was in Beijing to attend the 18th Auto Show in the Chinese capital, pointed out that the Tesla factory in the greater city of Shanghai (east) is the company’s best performing factory worldwide, “thanks to hard work and wisdom,” various official media reported in the few hours. Past that Chinese team.
The factory, which opened in 2019, produced more than 710,000 cars in 2022 alone, many of them part of the 1.7 million cars Tesla has sold in China since it entered the country's market a decade ago.
“It is good to see the progress of electric cars in China. All cars will be electric in the future,” Musk said in a video posted on social media by a state media user.
Musk's surprise visit to Beijing raised expectations about the possible promotion of self-driving technology produced by Tesla in China.
The US company could offer self-driving and supervised self-driving in the Asian country, which would represent an important step forward for the Chinese auto industry, although it was not reported that this was the topic of conversation at the meeting held with the Prime Minister.
Beijing Auto Show
The Beijing Auto Show, which runs from April 25 to May 4, witnessed the display of 278 new models of new energy vehicles, reflecting China's growing interest in this type of vehicle.
In this context, Tesla faces increasing competition from local electric car manufacturers such as BYD, Xpeng and Nio, or from the Chinese technology giant Xiaomi, which has just entered the sector with its SU7 car.
To maintain its dominant position in the Chinese market, Tesla announced a price reduction of up to 6% on some of its models.
In addition, the company wants to build a new factory in Shanghai to produce high-capacity “Megapack” batteries for energy storage, with a production capacity of about 10,000 units per year.
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