[ad_1]
Tesla sales in China fell 70% last month in the latest demonstration of the negative impact of the US-China trade war on business. This news from the Chinese passenger car association, reported by Reuters, came a few days after the automaker announced plans to cut prices for the Chinese market.
China is a key market for Tesla, where it plans to build a gigafactory. Last month, it sold only 211 cars, according to the data of the association. A price cut is logical given the persisting trade tensions between Beijing and Washington, and an acceleration of gigafactory plans would also make sense. Tesla also plans to move some of its production to China.
Last month, the company announced that it would be launching pre-orders for its affordable model, Model 3, in Europe and China by the end of this year and added that it was considering moving production from some models 3 in China next year. "We are aiming to import portions of Model 3 production into China in 2019 and to gradually increase the level of localization through local sourcing and manufacturing," said Tesla in its report on the results of the third quarter. Cars made in China are said to be sold in China, Tesla added.
In addition, CEO Elon Musk admitted earlier this week that the company was about to collapse due to delays in the production of model 3.
"Tesla was threatened with death because of the production ramp of Model 3. Essentially, the company was bleeding money like crazy and if we did not fix these problems in a short time, we would die. It was extremely difficult, "said Musk in an interview with Axios on HBO.
The bleeding money was certainly not a secret at the time Musk spoke – in the spring this year – but the company managed to turn the situation around quickly enough not to avoid death by bleeding, but even make a profit for the third quarter of last year. l & # 39; year.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
More from Reading Oilprice.com:
[ad_2]
Source link
