Mexican Media Brands
Slow Progress in Tesla’s Quest for EV Partner in China
Tesla Inc. continues to struggle to set up local production in China, a key ingredient in the carmaker’s effort to become a mainstream player in the country’s fast-growing electric-car market.
#hybrid #economics
Share
Tesla Inc. continues to struggle to set up local production in China, a key ingredient in the carmaker’s effort to become a mainstream player in the country’s fast-growing electric-car market.
Tesla currently supplies the Chinese market with American-made EVs, which face a 25% import tax upon arrival. The company has been in talks for seven months with government agencies about setting up a local production facility.
China wants Tesla to partner with a local producer. But sources tell Bloomberg News that Tesla insists on sole ownership of such a factory.
Late last year CEO Elon Musk indicated to analysts that Tesla was at least three years away from launching production in China. Since then, he has avoided discussing the company’s China plans.
Tesla operates more than 30 retail outlets in China. But last year the company sold fewer than 15,000 EVs there, capturing only 3% of the country’s EV market. Bloomberg says Tesla, the biggest EV seller in the U.S., ranks 10th in China.
RELATED CONTENT
-
2019 Honda Insight
One of the things that rarely gets the amount of attention that it should in a typical “car review” is the fact that for a considerable amount of time drivers are not “getting on the throttle” because for a considerable number of drivers, they’re “dwelling on the binders,” a.k.a., sitting with their foot depressed on the brakes, perhaps lifting every now and then in order to nudge forward in traffic.
-
Electrically Improving Powertrains
The good news about downsized powertrains is that they can provide greatly improved fuel efficiency compared to larger engines. The not-so-good news for many drivers of cars with these smaller engines under the hood is that they can lack performance.
-
48-volt Hits Production
“In 2025, approximately one in five new vehicles across the world will be equipped with a 48-volt drive,” Juergen Wiesenberger, head of Hybrid Electric Vehicles at Continental North America said last week.