Musk praises China, says Tesla will increase investment in the country



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Elon Musk, founder and chief engineer of SpaceX, speaks at the 2020 Satellite Conference and Exhibition on March 9, 2020 in Washington, DC. Musk answered a series of questions relating to SpaceX projects during his appearance at the conference.

Win McNamee | Getty Images

Elon Musk reassured Tesla’s commitment to China, saying the automaker will continue to expand its investments in the country.

Musk’s comments came in a prerecorded question-and-answer style stream at the World Internet Conference, hosted by the Cyberspace Administration of China.

This is the second time this month that Musk has been very laudatory to the nation that is imperative for its electric vehicle business, saying it is a “global leader in digitization.” Less than two weeks ago, Musk, in another pre-recorded feed at the World Congress of New Energy Vehicles, said Chinese automakers were “the most competitive in the world.”

“My frank observation is that China devotes a lot of resources and effort to the application of the latest digital technologies in different industries including the automotive industry, making China a global leader in digitization,” Musk said. in the last video. “Tesla will continue to expand its investment and R&D efforts in China.”

Tesla has tried to improve its reputation in China after a series of negative reviews. The company has undergone regulatory scrutiny over its privacy and a handful of recalls in China. Beijing has reportedly restricted or banned the use of Tesla’s electric vehicles by some state and military personnel.

Musk called for data protection in his speech, clarifying what types of data is stored locally.

“At Tesla, we are pleased to see that a number of laws and regulations have been issued to strengthen data management,” said Musk.

Tesla has set up a data center in China to locate all data generated by our business here, including production, sales, service and invoicing. All personally identifiable information is stored in China without being transferred to overseas. Only in very rare cases, eg orders for spare parts from overseas are data approved for international transfer. “

The company opened a large factory in Shanghai in 2019. Tesla sold 44,264 Chinese-made vehicles in August, including 31,379 for export. This is an increase from the 32,968 Chinese-made vehicles sold in July and the 33,155 units sold in June.

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