Elon Musk dismisses report that he wants to import Tesla cars from China to North America
Elon Musk has dismissed a report that he plans to export Tesla cars from China to the US, despite lower production costs reportedly offsetting high tariffs on Chinese imports to the US.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has refuted a report that the company is planning to export electric cars made in China to the US and Canada. Reuters reported that Tesla is “considering” plans to export Model 3 and Model Y electric cars from its Chinese factory to North America starting early next year, citing “people familiar with the planning.”
Tesla’s Chinese factory currently serves global markets such as China, Europe and Australia. Tesla cars sold in North America, meanwhile, are made in the US. Passenger vehicles manufactured in China are currently subject to a 27.5% import duty in the US.
However, according to a Reuters report, favourable currency exchange rates, lower raw material prices in China and rising new car prices in the US could ‘potentially’ make Chinese exports a viable option. Shortly after the Reuters report was published, Tesla CEO Elon Musk called it “false” on Twitter. Tesla representatives contacted by Reuters would not comment further on Musk’s social media post.
According to Reuters, Tesla’s Shanghai factory – nicknamed Giga Shanghai – has the capacity to produce up to 1.1 million vehicles a year, making it the electric vehicle specialist’s largest production facility, although Tesla’s latest financial report lists a capacity of only “more than 750,000” cars a year.
However, any Tesla made in China and sold in the U.S. would not qualify for the U.S. government’s upcoming electric vehicle tax incentives, which require that vehicles be manufactured in North America and that a significant portion of the materials in their batteries come from the U.S. or a country with which the U.S. has a free trade agreement.
Source, photo: drive.com
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