Is Tesla’s Shanghai plant announcement a matter of auspicious timing?
Wholly-owned Gigafactory puts US carmaker in pole position, in industry forecast to grow nearly six times by 2025
By committing to Shanghai, where it will set up its Gigafactory and become the city’s biggest foreign manufacturing investor, Tesla has taken pole position when it comes to vehicles powered by alternative fuels. Its timing could not be better – the industry is forecast to grow nearly six times in size by 2025.
The Palo Alto, California-based carmaker’s assembly line in Shanghai, its first outside the United States, will also be the first wholly foreign-owned car manufacturing facility in mainland China, with Tesla taking advantage of Beijing scrapping ownership restrictions in the industry.
The timing of the deal is good, if China keeps its promise to open up to foreign players
Moreover, the local government will not push the US carmaker on previous technology transfer requirements either.
Huang Ou, the deputy director of the Shanghai Commission of Economy and Information Technology, said: “In terms of technology transfer, it is an issue to be settled through negotiations between enterprises.”
Huang’s statement, delivered to a press conference on Wednesday, implied the governmental would not be giving any orders. “How Tesla builds its plant and who it will cooperate with, it’s all the company’s own commercial operations,” he said.
The Shanghai government has said it will help the carmaker start production as soon as possible.
