Beijing: Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, has made an unannounced visit to Beijing, where he met with China’s second most important official, Premier Li Qiang. This meeting took place during the Beijing Motor Show, which was held from April 25 to May 5, and where Chinese car manufacturers were showcasing their latest electric vehicles.
According to the reports, during their gathering, Premier Li expressed his expectation that the United States and China would engage in a ‘win-win’ association, citing Tesla’s functions in China as a triumphant specimen of performing together.
Li Qiang was mentioned as stating that, “China’s very large-scale market will always be open to foreign-funded firms. China will stick to its word and will continue working hard to expand market access and strengthen service guarantees.
Elon Musk mentioned in his X post that he was delighted to meet the NO 2 official. He also added that they knew each other for many years, since their early Shanghai days.
The Tesla CEO’s trip to China was not publicly reported earlier, and it’s still not revealed whether he intends to attend the Beijing auto show while he’s there. The exhibition features electric vehicles made by Chinese car manufacturers that compete with Tesla’s prototypes. Musk’s travel to China comes momentarily after he withdrew from a planned visit to India to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi due to ‘very heavy Tesla obligations.’
Tesla holds its largest manufacturing factory outside the United States in Shanghai, where it delivers about half of its vehicles. However, the company is experiencing lagging deals, partially due to hard competition from Chinese automakers. In the first quarter, Tesla’s vehicle deliveries decreased by 8.5 percent, which led to a 40 percent downhill in its stock price since July.
Although the firm declared profits of $1.1 billion in the first quarter of this year, this figure was more downward than the $2.51 billion it made in the same period last year. Earlier this month, Elon Musk informed his staff via a memo that Tesla would be laying off more than 10 percent of its international workforce. The dismissals were intended to make the business ‘lean, innovative and hungry for the next growth phase cycle.’
In the last three months of 2023, Chinese auto giant BYD surpassed Tesla as the world’s largest electric vehicle manufacturer. However, Tesla reclaimed the label in the first quarter of the following year. Over the past few years, Musk made numerous journeys to China. His most recent visit was in June last year.
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