特斯拉首個海外工廠落地上海

Jimmy

Teslas first non-US factory in Shbangbai

Tesla，the US electric car company，has paid 973 million yuan to lease an 860，000 squaremetre plot of land near Shanghai's port for its first major vehicle factory outside the US，as it tries toexpand sales in the world's largest automotive market.

Tesla said the factory would begin production in 2021 with initial capacity of about 250，000vehicles a year. The cost of the lease was disclosed on aShanghai government website. Such leases usually last 50 years.

Tesla's sales in China have been affected by rising tradefrictions between Beijing and Washington. The company said thismonth it was operating at a 55 to 60 per cent cost disadvantagecompared to Chinese producers due to tariffs and shipping costs.

Funding for the Shanghai plant will mostly come fromChinese banks and Tesla's own investment“will not start in anysignificant way until 2019"，company founder Elon Musk said inan August conference call with investors.

Beijing said in April it would abolish rules requiring foreign companies to set up 50-50 joint ventures with a Chinese partner for the electric car sector by the end of the year，though the restriction will still apply to other kinds of vehicles until 2022.

Tesla has said it would have complete ownership C theShanghai plant. The factory will be based in the Lingang Area of Shanghai，whose namemeans“near the port"，due to its proximity to the city's shipping hub，and isalready home to the production facilities of international automotive brandsincluding MG Rover.

Mr Musk has said the Shanghai factory will eventually have a productioncapacity of 500，000 vehicles a year. The factory would also make thevehicles' battery packs.

But the lossmaking group's production levels in the US are still only halfwhat Mr Musk originally promised to reach by the end of 2018，although itfinally hit its weekly production goal at the end of June and has since beenable to achieve a quarterly target.

美國電動汽車公司特斯拉斥資9. 73億元，在上海港口附近租用一塊86萬平方米的土地，作為其在美國之外的第一家大型汽車廠的廠址。該公司正努力擴大在中國這個全球最大汽車市場的銷量。

特斯拉表示，該廠將于2021年投產，最初年產能約為25萬輛。上海市一個政府網站公布了這項租賃的費用。這種租賃通常的租期為50年。

特斯拉在中國的銷量受到了中美貿易摩擦不斷升級的影響。該公司本月表示，由于關稅和運輸成本，其運營成本與中國生產商相比有55%至60%的劣勢。

該公司創始人埃隆·馬斯克在8月份與投資者舉行的電話會議上表示，上海工廠的資金將主要來自中資銀行，而特斯拉“在2019年之前不會投入大量自有資金”。

中國政府今年4月表示，將于今年年底前為電動汽車取消外國公司與中國合作伙伴建立合資企業時50：50的股比限制。不過，對于其他類型的汽車，這項限制在2022年前仍將適用。

特斯拉表示，它將擁有上海工廠的全部所有權。

廠將設在上海臨港地區，該地區的名稱即為“毗鄰港口”之意，因為其靠近上海市的航運樞紐，且已是MG羅孚等國際汽車品牌的生產基地。

馬斯克曾表示，特斯拉上海工廠最終將擁有年產50萬輛汽車的產能。該工廠還將生產汽車的電池組。

雖然這家虧損的汽車集團最終在6月底實現了每周生產目標，并自那以后達到了季度生產目標，但該集團在美國的產量水平仍僅為馬斯克最初承諾將于2018年底達到的生產水平的一半。