Report: Tesla Won't Be Buying More Land in Shanghai

Matt Posky
by Matt Posky
report tesla won t be buying more land in shanghai

Tesla has reportedly canceled plans to expand its Shanghai plant. The electric vehicle manufacturer originally intended to make a land purchase and create a global exportation center for its products. But tensions between China and the United States have persisted, making any vehicles shipped to our market substantially less profitable for the company.

Automobiles exported from China are currently subject to a 25-percent tariff issued under the Trump administration as retaliation for the Chinese Communist Party’s heavy restrictions on foreign manufacturers. While Tesla is one of the only companies in existence that isn’t subject to China’s mandatory joint venture, resulting in a factory it wholly owns, the firm would still be subject to tariffs on every vehicle shipped to the U.S. and has recently endured a campaign of negative publicity in the region. China seems suddenly less friendly toward Tesla and it’s responding with the maximum amount of caution.

The Asian nation has developed a sudden interest in how automakers handle data and has recently been giving Tesla a hard time. Though the CCP sees this as a national security issue, pertaining largely to foreign brands, and has encouraged companies to work with the government in creating data hubs. Consumer privacy isn’t really being taken into consideration. But we cannot say data was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Like most business executives and world leaders, Elon Musk enjoys a long history of changing his mind and overpromising.

Tesla decided against bidding on a plot of land adjacent to the Shanghai facility in March, even though the local government had been making deals with landowners to sell their property to the automotive sector. It’s assumed that the space would have gone to Tesla. But Reuters is reporting that might never have been the manufacturer’s intent — with sources clarifying that the automaker never officially declared it wanted to buy the 100-acre plot that would have added another 200,000 to 300,000 units to the factory’s annual capacity of (Model 3 and Model Y) cars.

But those anonymous sources also claimed that the company had been considering expanding exports of its Chinese-made Model 3s, including to the United States, which likely would have required more land. Now it looks as though the cars will be staying in Asia, with a significant portion being allocated to Europe … at least until Tesla’s German facility is completed.

From Reuters:

Construction documents posted on a government website in March show Tesla is revamping its plant in Shanghai to add capacity.

Tesla still has land, designed for production but now used for parking, at its Shanghai site. One of the people said Tesla could expand its capacity beyond 500,000 on its existing site. Another said Tesla may acquire more land for more car production lines in the future.

Separately, Tesla is building facilities to repair and reproduce key components such as electric motors and battery cells and to build EV chargers at its Shanghai plant.

The Shanghai government has been talking to several companies to sell the land for commercial production of new-energy vehicles, said a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

Considering how strongly China wants to advance domestic EV brands, it always seemed risky for Tesla to get heavily invested there. We don’t know if it overpromised in the hope that the government would cut it a particularly sweet deal or simply doesn’t feel comfortable investing further due to the political and economic climate. But the resulting land decision means a gently dwindling commitment to China, despite sales allegedly being rather good. Tesla said it delivered 184,800 cars worldwide in the first three months of 2021 and attributed quite a bit of that to Asia.

Of course, the company doesn’t break down sales regionally (transparency?) so we have no way of knowing exactly how big of a role China played. But the Shanghai facility will remain important regardless, with Tesla stating that it’s still moving forward with the site “as planned.”

[Image: B.Zhou/Shuterstock]

Comments
Join the conversation
2 of 6 comments
  • ToolGuy ToolGuy on May 12, 2021

    • Tesla is close to collapse. • China is close to collapse. • US electric infrastructure is close to collapse. Relax. Buy a nice Ford (better than ever). Put gas in it (always available). Be happy.

  • Spike_in_Brisbane Spike_in_Brisbane on May 13, 2021

    One third of the world drives on the left and all these RHD Teslas are scheduled to come from Shanghai. I’m a little worried and do not expect to see a RHD Cybertruck anytime soon.

  • ToolGuy CXXVIII comments?!?
  • ToolGuy I did truck things with my truck this past week, twenty-odd miles from home (farther than usual). Recall that the interior bed space of my (modified) truck is 98" x 74". On the ride home yesterday the bed carried a 20 foot extension ladder (10 feet long, flagged 14 inches past the rear bumper), two other ladders, a smallish air compressor, a largish shop vac, three large bins, some materials, some scrap, and a slew of tool cases/bags. It was pretty full, is what I'm saying.The range of the Cybertruck would have been just fine. Nothing I carried had any substantial weight to it, in truck terms. The frunk would have been extremely useful (lock the tool cases there, out of the way of the Bed Stuff, away from prying eyes and grasping fingers -- you say I can charge my cordless tools there? bonus). Stainless steel plus no paint is a plus.Apparently the Cybertruck bed will be 78" long (but over 96" with the tailgate folded down) and 60-65" wide. And then Tesla promises "100 cubic feet of exterior, lockable storage — including the under-bed, frunk and sail pillars." Underbed storage requires the bed to be clear of other stuff, but bottom line everything would have fit, especially when we consider the second row of seats (tools and some materials out of the weather).Some days I was hauling mostly air on one leg of the trip. There were several store runs involved, some for 8-foot stock. One day I bummed a ride in a Roush Mustang. Three separate times other drivers tried to run into my truck (stainless steel panels, yes please). The fuel savings would be large enough for me to notice and to care.TL;DR: This truck would work for me, as a truck. Sample size = 1.
  • Art Vandelay Dodge should bring this back. They could sell it as the classic classic classic model
  • Surferjoe Still have a 2013 RDX, naturally aspirated V6, just can't get behind a 4 banger turbo.Also gloriously absent, ESS, lane departure warnings, etc.
  • ToolGuy Is it a genuine Top Hand? Oh, I forgot, I don't care. 🙂
Next