Tesla CEO Elon Musk is reportedly getting ready for a trip to China this week. If it all pans out, it will be the first time the CEO has been to the country in over three years. Yahoo! Finance says the news comes from three people familiar with the matter who asked to remain anonymous.
Of course, details surrounding Elon Musk's potential China trip are slim. The CEO appears to have plans to head to Tesla's Giga Shanghai factory, and also meet with "senior Chinese officials." Musk was last seen in public in China attempting to dance on stage during a publicized delivery event at the EV factory.
The publication reached out to Tesla and China's State Council Information Office to try to get more details about the reported visit. However, at the time of writing, it hadn't received any replies. The people familiar with the matter didn't offer any further details.
It makes perfect sense with the success of Giga Shanghai on both a local and global level that Musk would plan a visit, especially after a three-year absence. It actually came as a surprise to us to learn that the CEO hasn't visited since the 2020 event. He has been able to touch base with Tesla executives and some have been to and from the States multiple times since then.
It was previously reported that Musk was trying to get a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang back in April, which seems to have never come to fruition. However, there were no official details about what the meeting topics may include. That said, there was speculation that Musk may want to discuss Twitter since it's banned in the country.
CEO Elon Musk has made it clear time and time again of his great respect for China and its EV industry. He sees automakers in the country as Tesla's only real competition, which is something Ford CEO Jim Farley recently parrotted. Musk has also made it clear that Tesla now has a positive relationship with BYD, and recent news reveals that the US EV maker will be using the Chinese automaker's EV batteries in some of its cars.
Tesla has dished out many price cuts across the globe this year, with a big focus on China. While many of the EVs made locally in China are smaller and of lower overall quality than Tesla's vehicles, those local options are priced to sell, so Tesla needs to do everything it can to remain relevant and competitive in an increasingly difficult market.
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Tesla aims to expand Giga Shanghai to an annual production capacity of 1.75 million units, but it didn't provide any specifics for when that might happen. Musk has noted that there have been some issues holding up expansion and admitted that the nature of the relationship between the US and China should have people concerned.
This is a developing story. If more details become available, we'll either update the article or provide a follow-up. Why do you think Musk may be headed to China?
Source: Yahoo! Finance