Cao Yuan is from the Vice-Pilot Temple
智能车参考|公众号AI4Auto
Once again, China has saved Musk.
Tesla's stock price soared 15% overnight, adding $90 billion to its market value. It increased by about 651.7 billion yuan overnight, the highest single-day increase in more than three years.
Why the sudden surge?
In connection with the rumored new developments, Tesla's launch of FSD in China has been approved, and it has reached a cooperation with Baidu in the use of maps, and Baidu's stock price has risen by more than 7%.
Tesla FSD, it seems that this time it is really going to enter China.
Tesla is about to move from the story of car manufacturing to the new story of AI in Robotaxi.
And in these two critical moments, China gave the same assistance as charcoal in the snow.
Tesla's market value has skyrocketed, and FSD's entry into China has cleared the way
In less than 24 hours of Musk's visit to China, various news and rumors have not stopped.
First of all, Sawyer Merritt, one of Tesla's investors and a well-known Tesla whistleblower, suddenly broke the news that Tesla has been approved in Beijing and can launch FSD in China.
Just as public opinion was fermenting, the Wall Street Journal also came forward to report the news, saying that during Musk's visit to China, Tesla was told that it had preliminarily approved Tesla's plan to launch FSD in China.
And Bloomberg also reported that Tesla will use Baidu's map data in China to support FSD.
But so far, neither side has responded to the matter.
However, Tesla has already reached a partnership with Baidu. Since 2020, Baidu has been providing map data services to Tesla in China, and Tesla also released a new navigation system corresponding to Baidu map data at that time.
And just last week, Baidu held the Apollo smart car product launch conference, Baidu also announced that Baidu Maps real lane-level navigation will be launched in Tesla's world premiere.
If the cooperation between the two parties on FSD is true, it means that two key obstacles to FSD's entry into China have been cleared: data processing security and privacy protection have been legally complied with, and the surveying and mapping qualifications required for the operation of intelligent driving systems on domestic roads can be solved through cooperation with Baidu.
Next, whether FSD can enter China depends on whether it is approved or not. And in this regard, the available news is positive.
Therefore, whether it is the cooperation between the two parties or the approval of FSD, although there is no official response for the time being, but for the market, these are good news.
This side caused Baidu's share price to soar 7% in the afternoon, closing at HK$103.3 on the day, up 2.38%, and increasing its market value by about HK$6.7 billion (about 6.2 billion yuan).
On the other hand, Tesla's stock price rose by more than 16%, and its market value increased by $90 billion (about 651.7 billion yuan) overnight, setting a record for the highest single-day increase in more than three years, greatly saving Tesla's weak stock price in the past month.
It seems that Musk is going to thank China again.
China has once again saved Tesla
It has been 5 years since Tesla escaped the last crisis, which is the most famous "capacity hell" in Tesla's history.
At that time, because of the surge in orders for Model 3, the capacity of the automated production line did not meet Musk's expectations, the production and delivery capacity could not keep up, the company's cash flow was under pressure, and the capital chain was on the verge of breaking.
This not only made Musk anxious to stay in the factory day and night to supervise work, adjust production lines, and ensure delivery, but also issued an internal letter announcing a 7% layoff to help the company tide over the difficulties.
In addition, the market is also very unfavorable to Tesla, and the company's stock price once fell to a three-year low, leaving only $177.
And at this moment, positive signals came from Shanghai.
Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory took only 357 days, less than 12 months, from the construction of the factory to production, and officially started delivery in January 2020.
Tesla's production capacity crisis has since eased. And to this day, the Shanghai Gigafactory still contributes the most capacity of any factory.
At that time, Musk was also at the delivery ceremony of the first batch of car owners, and said sincerely:
Without China's support, Tesla would not be where it is today.
Now, five years later, something similar is happening again.
Whether it is China or the global market, Tesla has ushered in a period of sluggish growth. Although price cuts have been used many times to boost sales, this has been done in exchange for declining gross margins and profits.
And since the end of last year, Tesla's stock price has begun to decline all the way, and it can plummet by 12% in a day, evaporating $80 billion.
Even Musk himself admits that Tesla has been going through a long period of prosperity and it is time to restructure the company for the next phase of growth. As a result, the company laid off 10% of its workforce.
So how does Tesla move to the next stage of growth? Musk is betting on autonomous driving, or FSD.
And this time Musk came to China, there is frequent good news. Senior analysts at Wedbush Securities, a well-known American investment bank, said that Musk's unexpected trip to China was a watershed moment for Tesla, which may open the door for FSD in China and release real golden opportunities for Tesla.
It seems that the bottleneck of Tesla's growth will be broken by China again.
In addition, domestic Tesla owners seem to have begun to receive the news of participating in the closed beta test experience FSD Beta, the version is FSD V12, which includes more accurate lane keeping and lane change functions, smarter traffic signals and parking recognition, and more efficient route planning and navigation.
The closed beta experience will begin on April 30 for early owners who have already purchased the FSD.
However, Tesla's latest response said that the news of the relevant internal test invitation is untrue.
But in any case, sooner or later, Tesla FSD will have to be tested by China's road conditions.
So in the face of China's road conditions, will Tesla's pure visual intelligent driving experience be far ahead, or will it not adapt to the soil and water?