Tesla announces new factory in China

Despite being invited by the Transport Minister of India to set up a manufacturing facility in the country, Tesla has revealed that it has finalized a new manufacturing factory in China.

Tesla's new plant will be located outside Shanghai in a free-trade zone. This makes the electric vehicle manufacturer the first foreign company to set up a factory on its own in China. As of now, a company is required to have a tie-up with a local company to set up a factory in China. In 2017 the Asian country has accounted for 18.7% of Tesla's total sales. The total electric vehicle sales in China stood at 3.51 lakh units last year and the country aims to cross the 70 lakh unit sales mark by 2025. In September, the country announced that it was working on a plan to phase out conventionally powered cars.

Speaking on the occasion of the company's Q3 results, Elon Musk - CEO of Tesla revealed that the production is tentatively expected to start in 2020 and the company aims to build over 2 lakh cars annually to serve the Chinese as well as other Asian markets.

With India announcing an electrification target by 2030, this could be a setback for the Indian government. This target date is even earlier than some other countries that have a partial electric infrastructure in place already.

Source - CNBC