Tesla is again expanding Gigafactory Shanghai with new buildings emerging on the east side. The automaker is also looking to add a design director to its Chinese team ahead of the planned $ 25,000 electric car.
Tesla Gigafactory Shanghai
Gigafactory Shanghai was a great success story for Tesla in 2020.
After successfully building the first phase in 2019, Tesla started production at the plant in 2020 and they were able to increase production quickly, resulting in the plant contributing more than 140,000 cars to Tesla’s record year.
It produced only Model 3 vehicles in 2020, but the automaker has already started production of Model Y in anticipation of deliveries starting this month.
The size of the plant more than doubled to accommodate production of the Model Y.
Tesla is now expanding again with new buildings appearing at the current location, and Tesla also appears to be expanding on more land on the east side of the site:
Design Director at Tesla China
In addition, Tesla is also looking to hire a new head of design for China.
Reuters report:
Tesla Inc is looking for a design director in China as part of efforts to open a “complete” studio in Shanghai or Beijing and design electric cars tailored to the taste of the Chinese consumer, according to three people with knowledge of the subject .
It would not be Tesla’s first effort to hire designers in China.
Last year, Tesla started receiving design proposals for its small Chinese-made electric car and started hiring for the program soon after.
But it seems that Tesla is now looking for a head of the design team in China to “fill the gap” with the US team:
They are looking for “bi-cultural” candidates with 20 or more years of experience who are familiar with Chinese tastes and who can fill the gaps between China and the United States, they added.
Tesla is also looking to set up a complete design studio in the country.
Tesla $ 25,000 electric car
The team’s first project is likely to be the $ 25,000 electric car recently announced by Tesla.
Talking about what Tesla’s new battery cell and “structural battery” architecture could allow for last year’s Battery Day, CEO Elon Musk announced that Tesla will make a $ 25,000 electric car.
The CEO commented in the announcement:
Tesla will make an attractive $ 25,000 electric vehicle that is also fully autonomous.
He made it clear that this new price point is achieved through Tesla’s new battery cell and the battery manufacturing effort.
Last week, we reported that some documents about Gigafactory Shanghai indicated that Tesla could start producing the new vehicle at the plant as early as next year.
The new expansion of the factory may also be to support the production of the new vehicle.
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