Tesla has had a vehicle plant up and running in China since 2019, and now the company has confirmed plans for construction of a second Chinese plant to keep up with strong demand both locally and abroad.
Tesla made the confirmation in a letter sent on May 1 to officials in Shanghai's Lingang Special Area, where Tesla's existing plant is located.
In its letter, Tesla said it will build a new plant with an annual capacity of 450,000 vehicles close to the existing plant, according to Reuters which obtained a copy of the letter. The first vehicles built at the new plant are expected to be the Model 3 and Model Y.
The Lingang Special Area is a free-trade zone located south of Shanghai. The Tesla plant there is the first vehicle plant in China to be wholly owned by a foreign company. It builds the Model 3 and Model Y, both for local sale and export, and in 2021 it built 484,130 vehicles—or more than half of Tesla's record deliveries of 936,000 vehicles that year.
Tesla recently completed a plant near Austin, Texas, which builds the Model Y and is earmarked to build the Cybertruck, whose start of production is currently delayed to 2023. Tesla has also just completed a plant near Berlin, Germany, to build the Model 3 and Model Y.
Tesla's first plant in Fremont, California, still churns out the Model S, Model X, Model 3 and Model Y, and the company also has a plant new Reno, Nevada, which is used for components, as well as Tesla's energy storage products.
Tesla in its letter also thanked the Lingang officials for their help in getting the existing plant reopened on April 19 after three weeks of Covid lockdown measures. Tesla mentioned the transport arranged for the workers at the plant as well as the disinfection work carried out at the site.
