Seems like Tesla has been eying this move for over a year. Bloomberg [0] broke this story last year (June 2016) saying Tesla planned to invest $9 billion in Shanghai, according to a 'person with knowledge of the matter'. However, one key point from last year's article is:
Manufacturing in China would allow Palo Alto, Calif.-based Tesla to avoid a 25% import levy, making its electric vehicles more competitive against luxury-brand rivals, such as BMW and Audi, as well as local offerings by BYD and BAIC.
Last year, it sounded like Tesla's motivation to manufacture in China was to avoid this tariff. Now today's WSJ story says Tesla is still likely to pay the 25% tariff. Sounds like Tesla got shafted by Chinese protectionism.
Manufacturing in China would allow Palo Alto, Calif.-based Tesla to avoid a 25% import levy, making its electric vehicles more competitive against luxury-brand rivals, such as BMW and Audi, as well as local offerings by BYD and BAIC.
Last year, it sounded like Tesla's motivation to manufacture in China was to avoid this tariff. Now today's WSJ story says Tesla is still likely to pay the 25% tariff. Sounds like Tesla got shafted by Chinese protectionism.
[0] Non-paywalled Bloomberg article http://www.industryweek.com/competitiveness/shanghai-said-be...