Tesla Inc production in China, the world’s largest electric-vehicle market, could reach a rate of 2,000 vehicles a week by the end of the year, Tesla chief executive officer Elon Musk said on Wednesday.
“It looks like we will reach volume production at the end of this year with at least more than 1,000 cars a week, maybe 2,000,” Musk said on an earnings conference call. “If it’s not then, it will be shortly thereafter.”
Musk was responding to an analyst’s question about whether he was still confident in reaching a 3,000-vehicle-per-week target.
In January, Musk said he was initially aiming for output of 3,000 Model 3 cars per week in Shanghai, although he did not specify when that target would be reached.
Tesla’s first Chinese factory, which is under construction, would help the company to avoid the current 15 percent tariff on imported cars from the US, making its pricing more competitive against local brands.
The need for Tesla to expand beyond its home market of the US was highlighted by the earnings it reported on Wednesday, with first-quarter results missing analysts’ projections.
The California-based company reported a loss of US$702 million in the first three months of this year after two consecutive quarters of profit.
Tesla produced about 63,000 Model 3 vehicles in the period, an increase of 3 percent from the same quarter a year earlier, but fewer than had been anticipated.
The company attributed its disappointing financial results to Model 3 shipping delays, particularly in Europe and China.
Overall company revenue in the period rose 33 percent to US$4.5 billion in a year-over-year comparison, but fell far short of Wall Street forecasts.
Shares of Tesla ended the US post-market trading session little changed. The stock has lost 22 percent this year.
China has been supporting the construction of Tesla’s Shanghai factory, with the company securing up to US$521 million in Chinese bank loans to finance the plant.
“We have 99 percent of things in good shape, but if 1 percent is missing, you still can’t make a car,” Musk said.
Tesla is working to have multiple battery-cell suppliers for the Shanghai factory, he said.
Tesla, which has thus far relied on Panasonic Corp batteries, is in talks with top Chinese battery producer Contemporary Amperex Technology Co (時代新能源科技) about supplying cells for the Model 3 vehicles it is to assemble in Shanghai, people familiar with the matter have said.
Additional reporting by AFP
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”