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The first Tesla roll off the assembly line in China

2019-12-30T13:05:36.030Z


Construction of the Tesla factory only began a year ago, and vehicles are already ready: 15 employees in Shanghai received the company's first electric cars produced in the United States.



Tesla's first foreign production facility is in operation: After only 357 days after the start of construction, the Tesla plant in Shanghai has now delivered the first locally produced electric cars. At a ceremony this Monday, 15 Model 3 electric cars were handed over to Tesla employees. The Tesla factory cost two billion dollars.

Tesla manager Wang Hao said sales of the Chinese-made sedan have been "very good" so far. The plant has a production target of 1,000 units a week or 280 cars a day.

Tesla started manufacturing the cars in October. In the future, 250,000 and in the end even 500,000 cars will be manufactured there each year, which cost the equivalent of 45,000 euros before subsidies. China wants to exempt e-cars from sales tax and thus make them more affordable.

Tesla bypasses customs duties through Chinese factory

China is massively expanding electric mobility and is already the world's largest market for electric vehicles. In 2018, one million vehicles powered by renewable energies were sold for the first time in the People's Republic. Tesla wants to benefit from this. The company also avoids import duties on US vehicles imposed in the course of the trade dispute.

A special purchase incentive is the preferred approval of electric cars in large cities. License plates for petrol are meanwhile raffled off or have to be bought at expensive prices. Buyers often have to wait for years while electric vehicles tend to be approved. In cities like Beijing, there is also a driving ban on one day of the week, which does not apply to electric cars.

E-car sales in China weaken

However, the Chinese market has recently been slow due to the weakening economy. In September, sales of battery-electric cars in China had dropped by around 33 percent compared to the same month in the previous year. This was also because the government cut subsidies for short-range electric cars.

Tesla is also currently planning to build a "Gigafactory" in Germany. The compact SUV Model Y is to be manufactured in Grünheide in the Oder-Spree district near Berlin from 2021. Construction on the 300-hectare site is scheduled to begin in the first half of 2020.

Source: spiegel

All business articles on 2019-12-30

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