Tesla has increased the registered capital for its new Shanghai Gigafactory from 100 million yuan ($14.6 million USD) to 4.67 billion yuan ($681 million USD) to support new scope for the factory, including core automotive manufacturing operations and battery managements systems at the new factory.
I did something quite irresponsible lately. I made a prediction 6½ years in the future about Tesla’s finances. The normal financial analyst horizon is a single quarter, and that is often too difficult.
Some people seem to thrive on turbulent times. Others prefer tranquility. Elon Musk is definitely in the first group. He seems to be happiest when things around him are in chaos — or at least, that’s where he shines. If so, he must be ecstatic and glowing brightly at the moment. After tweeting last week that he might take Tesla private, the news media has been awash with guesses, wild ass guesses, and far-fetched speculation about who might be interested in walking Tesla and Elon down the aisle in a financial marriage that could have international implications.
Time flies with Elon Musk is tweeting about taking Tesla private, but there’s much more news to get to beyond that. In particular, there’s much news out of China. In order to aggregate and summarize the highlights, here’s another edition of our China × Cleantech feature, also published over on the “Future Trends” section of our website. And, yes, there is some Tesla news in here as well.
Shanghai government officials may or may not be involved in Elon Musk’s plans to take Tesla private, but they are certainly welcoming the Silicon Valley company to China with open arms.
Tesla has been pushing to build local production capacity in two of its key markets for years and just recently confirmed that it will build its third Gigafactory in Shanghai, China. The new plant-to-be spent some time in the spotlight this week during Tesla’s Q2 2018 investor call. Elon shared some insights into the timeline, production capacity, and cost.
News reports suggest Tesla is moving forward with plans to build a battery and auto manufacturing facility in southern Germany.
Trade wars are easy to win, our own Dear Leader says. He’s right, but maybe not in the way he imagines. CleanTechnica readers of a certain age may remember a time a few decades ago when America imposed import tariffs on Japanese cars in an effort to protect US carmakers. The result? Japanese automakers soon built new factories in the US and began to push the domestic companies toward oblivion. Today, Toyota and Honda continue to crank out sedans built in America while the Big Two And A Half in Detroit have slashed sedan production to focus on the only vehicles they can sell successfully — pickup trucks and large SUVs.
After Elon Musk concluded a deal to build a manufacturing plant in Shanghai this week, he flew to Beijing to talk with Chinese leaders about weightier matters — things like peaceful coexistence, the future of humanity, and preventing an environmental catastrophe. Afterward he tweeted, “Excellent meetings with senior leaders in China. Very thoughtful about the long-term future.”
Bloomberg reports that Elon Musk is in China this week as new Chinese trade tariffs have raised the price of a Tesla Model X by as much as $30,000 since last week.
