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China gives Tesla green light for production - Roadshow
Tesla put a major piece in its manufacturing puzzle in China with government approval of automotive production locally. The US-based electric-car maker is now officially part of the approved list of automotive manufacturers in the world's largest auto market.
Reuters first reported on the news after viewing a copy of list the Chinese industry ministry produced. The granting gives Tesla the certification needed to start local production, though it's not clear when that will begin. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The factory will be the first full-scale manufacturing plant outside of the US. Tesla does operate a "final assembly" facility in Tilburg, Netherlands, but the Chinese site is a key pillar in expanding the automaker's footprint in the country. Tesla vehicles are currently subject to auto tariffs; local production will element those taxes. China has also granted the carmaker assistance to expedite construction.
Reuters also reported production at the new factory could kick off this month.
From the Reuters article:
Tesla intends to produce at least 1,000 Model 3s a week from the Shanghai factory by the end of this year, as it tries to boost sales in the world's biggest auto market and avoid higher import tariffs imposed on U.S. cars.
The factory, China's first fully foreign-owned car plant, also reflects Beijing's broader shift to open up its car market.
Shanghai authorities have offered Tesla assistance to speed up construction, and China excluded Tesla models from a 10% car purchase tax on Aug. 30.
Related Stories
Tesla delivers its first 'Made in China' cars:
During a ceremony at the company's multi-billion dollar plant in Shanghai, 15 of its employees received cars they had purchased.
The event means deliveries of cars have started a little over a year after construction of the factory got underway.
[...] The Chinese-made Model 3, priced at $50,000 (£38,000) before subsidies, will compete with local electric car makers, including NIO and Xpeng Motors, as well as global brands such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz.
[...] Previously Tesla was exporting all of the cars it sold in China from the US, which meant they were hit with tariffs in China.
Previously:
Tesla Will Build a "Gigafactory" Near Berlin, Germany
China Gives Tesla Green Light for Production
(Score: 2) by coolgopher on Monday October 21 2019, @07:30AM (3 children)
Element? I think they meant "eliminate". Might want a [sic] there.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 21 2019, @09:05AM (2 children)
What's the matter?
Not a very energizing first post but you really.didn't find anything of substance to say, did you? (grin)
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Monday October 21 2019, @01:42PM (1 child)
Nor did you. And you ended up saying nothing important anonymously.
-- hendrik
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 21 2019, @11:46PM
You did get the point though. Bravo! (grin).
(Score: 2) by Coward, Anonymous on Monday October 21 2019, @08:17AM (3 children)
China has cash and a big market. Tesla has great EV technology and is bleeding red ink. This sounds like an under-the-table tech transfer deal.
(Score: 2) by TheGratefulNet on Monday October 21 2019, @08:33AM
don't think so.
you get to sell the car at a nice discount if the car is 'all made in china'. tesla was losing money since they are a US corp. they are trying to get the same discount that all the 'regular chinese' auto makers are getting (the ones that are electric).
china gov gets all info no matter what; but this is about discounts and lowering the selling price so it competes with local china brands.
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(Score: 4, Interesting) by c0lo on Monday October 21 2019, @08:57AM (1 child)
China wants Tesla's money - taxes, investment and all that come with a supply chain (i.e. more taxes and more investment). Also, it wants to shit on Trump's trade war, considering a Made in China Tesla is 20-25% cheaper on the market [cnet.com]. And Musky is quite happy to oblige, he has nothing to lose.
Let me explain why Musky has nothing to looe: that great EV technology is nothing revolutionary [extremetech.com] same chemistry just an incremental improvement, it's a Canadian IP and the Dalhousie University authors already disclose the details
Besides, China is absolutely dominating the lithium ion battery production, with >70% of world capacity [forbes.com].
(trade wars are easy to win, right?. Are you tired of winning yet?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Monday October 21 2019, @03:53PM
trade wars are easy to win, right?.
Well yeah, when the war is designed to let the cronies cash out or buy in to snag a few billion. Even the tabloids are making some noise about the market manipulation.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 3, Insightful) by jmichaelhudsondotnet on Monday October 21 2019, @09:14AM (12 children)
Who wouldnt want to operate a factory where the workers are under threat of having their organs harvested.
Anyone still building factories in china is a monster. It's one thing to have your pig in a poke but this is doubling down.
True colors shining through here. Lost a lot of respect for Mr. Musk when I saw this. This would have been a great time to announce a factory nearly anywhere else, besides Turkey.
thesesystemsarefailing.net
(Score: 3, Informative) by Bot on Monday October 21 2019, @09:37AM (9 children)
Didn't Musk get a lot of cash from the USA to make its business viable? all in the name of environment. Then takes the know how and goes away. I'd ask for the money back.
I expect the environment being used an as excuse to further demolish the western economy. Everybody watching Russia, like China did not interfere. LOL.
States use public money given to private companies a lot, they call themselves left leaning democrats socialists, but it's social democracy upside down. Social for the rich, on your own capitalist for the poor.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 4, Informative) by c0lo on Monday October 21 2019, @10:35AM (8 children)
From whom? From private investors? Maybe, I haven't looked into their books.
From govts? It seems that is false [cleantechnica.com]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by etherscythe on Monday October 21 2019, @04:24PM (4 children)
Uh, from tax incentives [mashable.com]? I mean, they're gone now, so maybe Elon feels like it's game on.
"Fake News: anything reported outside of my own personally chosen echo chamber"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 21 2019, @07:06PM (3 children)
That tax credit was consumer-only and it was a tax credit, not a payment. In other words the government let consumers pay a bit less tax as an incentive to purchase a Tesla. Tesla got $0 from it. By contrast most of Tesla's competitors (other vehicle companies) received tens of billions of dollars in direct payment during the US auto industry bailout. The whole Musk got a ton of subsidies is mostly just astroturfed attacks with little more than enough of a connection to reality to confuse the issue and let the myth live on, like the Loch Ness Monster. His companies have receive some subsidies, but nothing uniquely substantial and in all cases a tiny fraction of what his direct competitors have received.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 22 2019, @02:23AM (1 child)
> but nothing uniquely substantial
I beg to differ, the Tesla solar cell plant south of Buffalo NY was built with NY State money, something approaching a billion (with a B) dollars. Tesla manages the plant and bring their IP. The plant is slowly ramping up production, now with partner Panasonic, and has met the hiring quotas so far. I think that next year they are supposed to be at full employment (1000 jobs?? -- don't remember the number) and NY State has penalties if they don't hire that many people.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 22 2019, @04:38AM
It's 3,000 jobs.
What happened there is exactly what happens when any large company builds a business anywhere. Big business development in an area brings in a mixture of new tax revenue, new jobs (which also brings in more tax revenue), and some form of development - cultural, technological, industrial, etc. So they shop around at each state and ask what each state is willing to offer for them to setup there. The exchange is mutually beneficial since it results in long-term gains for the state that offers the most, at the cost of short-term losses. From the company's perspective, it helps reduce the short-term setup costs (which can be immense) in exchange for picking a state that might not necessarily have the absolutely best long-term incentives. These deals are one of the few things that incentivize companies to actually build products here instead of Mexico or China.
In any case this is nothing unique to Tesla. The only thing that's unique about it is the press coverage. E.g. - Ford just setup a new factory in Michigan for the production of autonomous vehicles. Details on their deal? At least as far as my 5-min searching goes, impossible to find - even though it's public domain information.
(Score: 3, Informative) by etherscythe on Tuesday October 22 2019, @06:58PM
It was paid to consumers, but Tesla based their pricing on the tax credit. If they had really been going for a percentage margin, the tax credit ending would not have changed their prices at all - but they reduced prices by the amount of the credit so that cost to the consumer would not change. They basically charged extra knowing the government was covering the difference, kind of like how health providers charge more knowing that insurance companies will pay more.
...unless you believe that Tesla was willing to eat the cost by the amount of the credit simply for the sake of goodwill. I may be biased, but even I find that hard to swallow.
"Fake News: anything reported outside of my own personally chosen echo chamber"
(Score: 2) by etherscythe on Monday October 21 2019, @04:57PM (2 children)
Just looked closer at your link. While technically the $7500 EV tax incentive technically went to the buyer of the car, the fact that Tesla dropped their price by exactly that amount as it expired tells me that they basically just got that much passed on directly from consumers. I'm a Tesla fan, but I'm not going to pretend they weren't scrabbling for the cash. I might have done the same.
"Fake News: anything reported outside of my own personally chosen echo chamber"
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday October 21 2019, @09:30PM (1 child)
That's like saying Target received tax money because the federal govt lowered taxes. Or grocery stores received tax money because of the food stamps.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by etherscythe on Tuesday October 22 2019, @06:49PM
If Target raised their prices by the amount of the government tax break or food stamps, then yes it basically did get government money. We can't tell what the price would have been before the tax incentives with Tesla since they were there from the beginning of sales, but I suspect it's exactly what happened: Tesla banked on profit from the tax incentive and priced accordingly.
"Fake News: anything reported outside of my own personally chosen echo chamber"
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 21 2019, @03:11PM
I'd encourage you look at the evidence [wikipedia.org] on the organ harvesting conspiracy theory. It's so spurious and circumstantial that it makes the irrefutable [washingtonpost.com] and undeniable [nytimes.com] evidence of Iraq's WMD look erm.. irrefutable and undeniable.. by contrast.
The evidence is a blind correlation of some evidence of increased organ transplants along with accounts of Falun Gongers, who are engaged in a mutual antagonism with China, claiming China is secretly harvesting their organs. Western media runs with it, because like during the lead up to Iraq, anything that attacks the 'enemy' not only goes without meaningful scrutiny but is widely repeated, praised, and endorsed - irrefutable and undeniable. Not to say China is good, nor to say Saddam was. But our tendency to fabricate evidence against national enemies is very much something that we should learn from and indeed I find it ever harder to consider us the 'good guys', though I also would not go so far as to call us the bad guys - shades of grey. Indeed this conspiracy may even turn out to be true, but the current evidence is in no way sufficient to state as much, as a matter of fact. And I suspect looking back there is a very good chance that "we" may find ourselves as embarrassed as those who lusted for a preemptive war to find nonexistent WMDs.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 21 2019, @09:31PM
a free kidney with each purchase?