mandag 11. mai 2020

Can China’s Electric Car Industry Weather the COVID-19 Storm?

The electric vehicle industry in China has been a top priority for Beijing in recent years. Faced with the challenge of reopening the Chinese economy after months of lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, how will new energy vehicles (NEVs) fare? Tesla, the U.S. electric car giant, announced earlier this week that it plans to up production of its Model 3 sedans in China to 4,000 a week by mid-2020. The company’s news follows the January 2020 launch of a China-made Model Y compact SUV, scheduled for delivery in 2021.

In 2018, Tesla made a deal with the Shanghai municipal government to build a $2 billion factory, its first overseas, in Lingang, a manufacturing park in the southeast of the city. Construction on the plant, designed with an annual capacity of half a million electric cars, first broke ground in early 2019. The Lingang New Area is home to hundreds of projects, including other foreign companies such as General Electric and Siemens AG, and was officially incorporated into the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone last summer.