The first made-in-China Tesla $TSLA could arrive in three years.
Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO, made the announcement during the company’s third-quarter earnings call yesterday (Nov. 1), though he also told investors and analysts not to “set your watch by this” as the date was a “rough target.” Musk added that Tesla wouldn’t make any significant capital expenditure in China, the world’s largest electric-vehicle market, until 2019.
Musk’s remarks came as Tesla posted its largest quarterly loss due to production problems with the Model 3.
In October, Tesla secured a deal to set up a manufacturing hub in Shanghai, independently and without a partner. It could become the first foreign automaker to do so in China.
Musk said that the company would be making the smaller and cheaper Model 3 and probably the upcoming Model Y, but not the Model S and Model X $TWTR, in its Chinese manufacturing facility. “It’s really the only way to make the cars affordable in China,” said Musk. He added that the factory could turn out “at least a couple hundred thousand vehicles ” every year.
Tesla made one-seventh of its overall revenue in China from 2016 to 2017, where Tesla’s sticker price is currently about 50% more expensive than in the US.
