Musk: "Honestly, If There Were No Trade Barriers, Chinese Cars Would Dominate"

Lost EV No.1 to BYD in Q4 Last Year
"Chinese Auto Companies Are the Most Competitive Globally"

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, praised Chinese automobile companies, calling them "the most competitive in the world."

According to China's Pengpai News on the 25th, Musk said during Tesla's earnings conference call, "Chinese automobile companies will achieve considerable success outside of China depending on what kind of tariffs or trade barriers are established," adding, "Honestly, if there were no trade barriers, they would demolish most of the other car companies in the world."

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

When asked if he plans to cooperate with Chinese companies, Musk replied, "Other than Tesla's Supercharger network usage and allowing open autonomous driving technology, I have not seen any clear opportunities to cooperate with Chinese companies."

At the end of 2021, when he was named Financial Times 'Person of the Year,' he also predicted that China would become an unstoppable force in the future automobile market. He stated, "People seem to overlook the tremendous achievements China has made," and claimed, "The revival of Japanese products in the 1980s and 1990s will soon be repeated by Chinese automobile companies." He added, "China has an enormous number of skilled and diligent talents," saying, "It is admirable, but also a little frightening."

Tesla's Gigafactory located in Shanghai is a large-scale production plant accounting for half of the global production volume. According to the China Passenger Car Association, Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory delivered a total of 950,000 vehicles last year. This represents a 33% increase compared to the previous year and accounts for 52.5% of Tesla's global deliveries.

According to recent financial report data, the annual production capacity of Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory for Model 3 and Model Y exceeds 950,000 units, making it the number one global Gigafactory in terms of production capacity.

Meanwhile, Tesla, which lost the global number one electric vehicle manufacturer position to BYD in the fourth quarter of last year, is reportedly preparing an affordable model priced as low as $25,000 (approximately 33.41 million KRW). This model, codenamed 'Redwood,' is expected to begin production by mid-next year. Currently, Tesla's cheapest product, the Model 3 sedan, is priced at $38,990 in the U.S. market.

In the fourth quarter of last year, BYD sold 526,409 pure electric vehicles and a total of 944,779 new energy vehicles, surpassing Tesla for the first time to become the largest electric vehicle manufacturer.