The move shows Tesla’s confidence in the opportunity-rich Chinese market
For Tesla, moving into the Chinese market – even before the tariffs – was one of the things that are going to make or break the company. China is on a fast track to becoming one of the world’s biggest markets, and thanks partly to the efforts of the local Chinese governments to curb the effects of air pollution, electric vehicles are going to be a highly coveted item. While most of the western world considers China poor, the truth is that China currently has a large middle class, all of whom are interested in luxury commodities such as electric vehicles.
To make vehicles cheaper for the Chinese market and to bypass the import tariffs deployed as a response to the same by the United States government, Tesla is building a Chinese based Gigafactory. Dubbed the ‘Gigafactory 3’, this production site will be located in the Shanghai industrial zone and it will have an area of more than 860,000 square meters. Furthermore, it’ll merge different areas of Tesla’s business, with items like research and development as well as manufacturing playing a big key. However, battery and vehicle production and assembly will be the most important work to be done at it.
Tesla Model X in China
In order to fulfill the needs for its workforce, Tesla will attend an autumn talent recruitment fair at the Shanghai Lingang Industrial Zone on November 29 and 30. This was revealed through a source at the Lingang Industrial Zone who delivered this information to the Global Times via telephone on Wednesday. According to data posted on the WeChat account called “Tesla Hiring” on Monday, Tesla opened a wide range of new positions for its Shanghai plant: everything from manufacturing managers and production directors, to positions such as electrical design engineer, global supply manager and senior recruiter to an architectural designer and process design engineer.
According to Wu Shuocheng, an independent analyst of the auto industry, this move by the U.S based carmaker signifies how much attention & importance does Tesla exert towards the Chinese market.
“For overseas carmakers like Tesla, where the market is, that’s where their factories are built,” he told the Global Times on Wednesday.
If their Gigafactory 3 plans succeed, Tesla could very well become one of the biggest car makes in the local Chinese market, essentially doubling their efforts in both sheer sales volume and income. However, companies like Volkswagen are also entering the Chinese market, where the German carmaker aims to 400,000 NEVs in China by the end of 2020, according to media reports. China, by the look of things, is going to become the next automotive industry battleground. And if that helps to clean the highly polluted air of major Chinese cities, well all for an all-out war over there.
Source: Globaltimes
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