Musk is expected to visit Tesla’s Shanghai factory, people familiar with the matter said Tuesday, asking not to be identified because the information is private. He’ll potentially meet Premier Li Qiang to discuss automated-driving technology that Tesla is seeking to introduce in China, one of the people said.
Musk and Li, who used to be the party secretary for Shanghai, have met several times before. The city of Shanghai was instrumental in helping Musk quickly set up Tesla’s factory there. Following a groundbreaking in early 2019, the company started delivering cars by December that year.
Constructing Tesla’s plant in China’s financial heart was regarded as among the most significant developments in the Shanghai business landscape during Li’s tenure.
As then-Shanghai party chief, Li met Musk at a signing ceremony in 2018 committing to the factory construction, and Tesla become the first foreign automaker to enter China without a local partner. Li also was at the groundbreaking ceremony in January 2019, and again at a ceremony to mark the first deliveries of China-made Model 3s.
Tesla has enjoyed significant support from the Shanghai authorities, from access to cheap land to expedited planning approvals. City officials even provided the EV maker with masks and protective equipment at the start of the pandemic. During the most recent lockdown, authorities helped Tesla secure an old military camp to house workers so it could restart production under a closed-loop system.
Tesla’s Shanghai plant accounted for more than half its global production in 2022, and the facility can now produce as many as 1.1 million cars a year. In return, the US automaker contributed almost one-quarter of Shanghai’s total automotive production value last year, and local authorities pledged earlier this month to continue to boost ties with the company through autonomous driving and robot modules.
On Tuesday, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs extended a welcome to Musk.
“China welcomes Mr. Musk and other leaders from the business community to have a better understanding of China and promote mutually beneficial cooperation,” spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a media briefing in Beijing.
But the relationship hasn’t always been easy. After a red-carpet welcome to China, Tesla has weathered growing public resentment at times tensions between Washington and Beijing are running high.
Angry Tesla owners swarmed showrooms in China in January to complain about missing out on a round of price cuts. Tesla cars also were banned from Chinese military complexes and housing compounds in early 2021 over concerns about sensitive data being collected by cameras built into the vehicles.
An expansion of the Shanghai plant also was delayed, people familiar with the matter said in January, over other data concerns, in particular around a US company with connections to Musk’s internet-from-space initiative Starlink having such a large presence in Asia’s biggest economy.
