Blog Tesla Plans Original Cars for Berlin, Shanghai Factories

Tesla plans to build two newly-designed vehicles to be produced at the company’s Berlin and Shanghai factories, Chief Executive Elon Musk said on Twitter.

The comment comes after Musk told investors at the recent Battery Day that the company intends to build a new vehicle with a $25,000 price tag.

It’s not clear if the most affordable vehicle in Tesla’s lineup would be available worldwide or just in the country it’s built.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1310483859507687425

Musk continues to make references to designing cars for specific regional markets. For instance, he has said that the company will leverage a design center based in China to create a new vehicle at Giga Shanghai. Tesla announced in June it was holding a contest for the China-designed car.

“I think something that would be super cool would be to – and so we’re gonna do it, we’re gonna try to do it – would be to create a China design and engineering center to actually design an original car in China for worldwide consumption,” Musk said. “I think this will be very exciting.”

Musk also said at Battery Day that the company may build a smaller version of the hulking Cybertruck for international markets.

Tesla already has a backlog of promised vehicles – Cybertruck, Semi, and Roadster expected to go into production in the next year.

What would you like to see in a newly-designed, affordable Tesla?

 

[T3SLAROD]

No different than what other manufacturers do overseas. I think Elon need that smaller compact for the US also. Something will 300-400 miles and a mid to low 6 second 1/4 mile, RWD. It would be RIP for all ICE compact cars.

 

[Mercedes fan]

Eventually most entry level Tesla models will be made in China for the USA market. They are starting to copy Apple in the designed in California and cost effectively assembled in China approach. Tesla Model 2 is coming from China.

 

[DualGrey]

Eventually most entry level Tesla models will be made in China for the USA market. They are starting to copy Apple in the designed in California and cost effectively assembled in China approach. Tesla Model 2 is coming from China.

 

[CSFTN]

I'm not so sure. China is no longer a lowest cost producer, and it is relatively expensive to ship a car across the ocean. Most car companies now produce on the same continent as the customer. I'd expect the 2s for Asian markets to be made in China, a slightly different 2 for NA to be made in Texas or Mexico (or maybe Canada) and a slightly different 2 for Europe to come from Germany.

Fremont will be for motors, parts, some S and X until they can either up the quality of that plant, or entirely automate it. Sad, but Tesla was able to buy that factory at a huge discount for a reason.

 

[DualGrey]

Don’t think so. Musk does not fall in line with other car makers. He is a visionary.

 

[davidinmedia]

Eventually most entry level Tesla models will be made in China for the USA market. They are starting to copy Apple in the designed in California and cost effectively assembled in China approach. Tesla Model 2 is coming from China.

Beg to disagree. It's expensive and slow to ship fully-assembled cars across the ocean. They'll build in China for the Asia-Pacific market, but cars for the U.S. will probably be built in U.S./Canada/Mexico, as they are today. The split among those may change.

 

[Sail049]

Tesla is not Ford or GM. Keep vertical integration in mind. That’s why China will build for China, Germany will build for Europe, and USA will build for USA.

 

[Retired in AZ]

Maybe so. But most of the people who chat with me about my Model 3 are more interested in the interior space, ride and comfort plus price. Range is, perhaps surprisingly, a distant second. The demographic is owners living in urban or suburban areas, at least 55 years old and either use the car as a utility or have some interest in the expense equation. Some still have commutes and are interested in the driving dynamics and cost to operate, while others want to know whether the trunk will hold 4 golf bags (retirees). Priuses sell well. So, a less expen$ive 'runabout town' version of the car would sell well here in retirement land. I've mentioned the Tesla used car program to several, and I think one of my golf buddies is buying one.

 

[mikegre]

Tesla will make the "skateboard", the part of the car that includes power, braking, steering, suspension, etc.

Smaller plants will take care of the relative simplicity of assembling upper bodies and will allow regional and local manufacturers to flourish. Instead of large, dedicated ships transporting 8,500 cars on 13 decks between Yokohama and Mombasa, for instance, we will see regular container ships off-loading standard 40-foot “boxes”, each of them stuffed with 8 to 12 skateboards delivered like any other merchandise. There will be no more need for 10,000-space parking lots to accommodate a single shipment of cars. Components will arrive in containers before they are loaded onto a semi-truck to go to the assembly plants, large or small, that are a few miles away.

 

[dwahl]

No different than what other manufacturers do overseas. I think Elon need that smaller compact for the US also. Something will 300-400 miles and a mid to low 6 second 1/4 mile, RWD. It would be RIP for all ICE compact cars.

Do you mean to say 0-60 in 6 seconds? Quarter mile in 6 seconds wouldn't even be possible on Tesla's fastest car.

 

[dwahl]

Tesla plans to build two newly-designed vehicles to be produced at the company’s Berlin and Shanghai factories, Chief Executive Elon Musk said on Twitter. The comment comes after Musk told investors at the recent Battery Day that the company intends to build a new vehicle with a $25,000 price tag. It’s not clear if the most...
[WPURI="https://teslamotorsclub.com/blog/2020/09/28/tesla-plans-original-cars-for-berlin-shanghai-factories/"]READ FULL ARTICLE[/WPURI]

RWD option should start at $25,000. AWD for $27-$30,000. 17" or 18" standard wheels/tires. Upgrade possible to "19 wheels.

 

[T3SLAROD]

Do you mean to say 0-60 in 6 seconds? Quarter mile in 6 seconds wouldn't even be possible on Tesla's fastest car.

crap yeah that what I meant lol

 

[Alan Appel]

Tesla will make the "skateboard", the part of the car that includes power, braking, steering, suspension, etc.

Smaller plants will take care of the relative simplicity of assembling upper bodies and will allow regional and local manufacturers to flourish. Instead of large, dedicated ships transporting 8,500 cars on 13 decks between Yokohama and Mombasa, for instance, we will see regular container ships off-loading standard 40-foot “boxes”, each of them stuffed with 8 to 12 skateboards delivered like any other merchandise. There will be no more need for 10,000-space parking lots to accommodate a single shipment of cars. Components will arrive in containers before they are loaded onto a semi-truck to go to the assembly plants, large or small, that are a few miles away.

I think you are on the right track here for the beginning. Having a common skateboard, battery pack, and drive train keeps down the costs of presses and increases the economies of scale. I would like to know more about the presses though. For instance, can the molds just be swapped in and out without significant downtime for adjusting the press itself? Wonder how long before the total cost of shipping exceeds the costs of presses? My guess also is that having completely independent factories also provides some decentralized isolation from local government issues effecting the entire business. Thanks.

 

[westie10019]

Eventually most entry level Tesla models will be made in China for the USA market. They are starting to copy Apple in the designed in California and cost effectively assembled in China approach. Tesla Model 2 is coming from China.

Tesla Will face a lot of push back for junk made in china. If that is the grand plan, I will not be supporting Tesla Products. Have we not learned anything about the CHICOMS over the past months!

 

[CeSinge]

A smaller car is mostly a city car. Tesla will have to figure out how to charge cars in cities: in appartment garages or in the streets. Imho, this is the main reason why people in cities simply cannot buy Tesla's: they have no practical ways to charge them.

Public chargers are only a limited solution: they're often in use in cities, so not reliably available every evening, and they're sometimes expensive. Installing a charger in an appartment garage, if at least one has one, typically requires the approval of the building council, i.e. of each and every owner of the building - often impossible to obtain.

Tesla got the S rolling with superchargers. They should now invent something for the cities, solving the appartment problem and the charging in the streets. Probably hard to do - but they can solve hard problems.

 

[Dirty Dog]

People are ignorant about China being cheap quality with everything they do. IPhones seams to work pretty well? Tesla is never bringing cars from China to the U.S. However ALL U.S. auto companies bring certain parts from China right now because of certain limitations of availability and manufacturing processes. It's not that much less expensive to manufacturer a car in China than the U.S. Yes, much less than California, but not much less in general. China is only much less expensive to manufacturer a product when there is a heavy component of manual labor in the product. IE: sewing in garments. Raw materials are basically the exact same cost everywhere in the world depending on how close you are to the source. Even in that scenario, China is becoming more expensive to manufacturer because their middle class is growing (unlike ours). Their people do not want the crappy sewing jobs anymore.(just like we don't) The cheaper labor keeps moving west in China because people who live near the main cities are getting real jobs.

 

[origingalatic]

No different than what other manufacturers do overseas. I think Elon need that smaller compact for the US also. Something will 300-400 miles and a mid to low 6 second 1/4 mile, RWD. It would be RIP for all ICE compact cars.

Er...... no. If you mean smaller compact car like civic? Then maybe

but 25,000 sounds like a Leaf or Smart or Mini size car which is proven that US buyers don’t care much for. Same reason why Ford decided to give up all passenger cars

that’s why CyberTruck will be built in Texas.

 

[origingalatic]

People are ignorant about China being cheap quality with everything they do. IPhones seams to work pretty well? Tesla is never bringing cars from China to the U.S. However ALL U.S. auto companies bring certain parts from China right now because of certain limitations of availability and manufacturing processes. It's not that much less expensive to manufacturer a car in China than the U.S. Yes, much less than California, but not much less in general.

Tesla dropped price of m3 twice in less than a year, 10% drop after initial launch. This shows you how much more margins there are in building the car in China.

The only reason Tesla is not shipping cars from China to US is due to tariff and also demand in China/Asia is still rather high. However, as Tesla matures in China, I wouldn't be surprised that if they start shipping from China to US.

Tesla is a tech company, not a traditional auto company so I don't think studying what other auto manufacturer do is a good indicator.

 

[origingalatic]

A smaller car is mostly a city car. Tesla will have to figure out how to charge cars in cities: in appartment garages or in the streets. Imho, this is the main reason why people in cities simply cannot buy Tesla's: they have no practical ways to charge them.

Public chargers are only a limited solution: they're often in use in cities, so not reliably available every evening, and they're sometimes expensive. Installing a charger in an appartment garage, if at least one has one, typically requires the approval of the building council, i.e. of each and every owner of the building - often impossible to obtain.

Tesla got the S rolling with superchargers. They should now invent something for the cities, solving the appartment problem and the charging in the streets. Probably hard to do - but they can solve hard problems.

There you go: New York State to spend $750M on EV charging infrastructure - Electrek