"In the future, all cars will be electric. It's great to see the progress of new energy vehicles in China!" Recently, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, visited China and praised the development of China's new energy vehicle industry, which has become a hot topic on the Internet in China. According to statistics, Musk's trip to China lasted less than 24 hours, but he gained a lot, and Tesla's stock price soared 15% in one day on April 29, US time, which is the largest increase in the stock since 2021.
Some analysts have pointed out that the success of Musk and Tesla is inseparable from the fertile soil of China. Tesla's Gigafactory in China and its outstanding sales performance are all due to China's excellent business environment and institutional advantages.
Tesla's stock price has skyrocketed
According to CCTV news, at the invitation of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, on the afternoon of April 28, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Inc. in the United States, arrived in Beijing, and Ren Hongbin, president of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, met with Musk to exchange views on the next step of cooperation and other topics.
Premier Li Qiang met with Musk in Beijing on the 28th. Li Qiang said that Tesla's development in China can be called a successful example of Sino-US economic and trade cooperation. Facts have shown that equality and cooperation and mutual benefit are the best interests of the two countries. We hope that the US will work with China in more common directions, follow the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, and promote the sustained and stable development of China-US relations. China's hyperscale market will always be open to foreign companies. China will continue to work hard to expand market access and strengthen service guarantees, so as to provide a better business environment and stronger comprehensive support for foreign-funded enterprises, so that enterprises from all over the world can invest in China with peace of mind.
Musk said that Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory is Tesla's best-performing factory, thanks to the hard work and wisdom of the Chinese team. Tesla is willing to further deepen cooperation with China and achieve more win-win results.
At 22:48 on April 28, Musk said on his personal Weibo, "It is an honor to meet with Premier Li Qiang." We have known each other for many years since we first met in Shanghai. ”
According to the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, on April 28, Ren Hongbin, president of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, met with Musk in Beijing, and the two sides exchanged views on topics such as Tesla's development in China and strengthening Sino-US business exchanges.
According to a video posted by Yuyuan Tan Tian, Musk said, "It's great to see the progress of electric vehicles in China, and all cars will be electric in the future." ”
It is worth mentioning that during Musk's trip to China in less than 24 hours, Tesla's stock price rose sharply. On April 29, Tesla's U.S. stock rose 15.39%, the largest one-day increase since March 2020, and its market value increased by US$82.6 billion (about 597.4 billion yuan). As of the close of the U.S. stock market on April 30, Tesla's share price closed at $194.05, an increase of 15.31%, and the stock price hit a new high in the past two months, with a total market value of $618.9 billion, while the market value of BYD Hong Kong was 628.8 billion yuan. The topic of "Tesla rose up to a BYD overnight" also appeared on the Weibo hot search list.
Why the market reacted so much
Behind Tesla's rapid growth and development, it is inseparable from the blessing of "China speed". Some analysts believe that this market reaction is more reflective of China's important value to Tesla than in 2019.
In 2019, when it was announced that the Chinese factory would be put into production ahead of schedule, Tesla's stock price rose 27% for the week. The "China speed" demonstrated by the Shanghai Gigafactory not only solved Tesla's crisis at that time, but also allowed it to take off.
In 2019, Tesla faced a situation where it continued to lose huge losses, its production capacity could not keep up with demand, and its cash flow was bleeding, and Musk pinned his hopes on the Chinese gigafactory under construction.
At the financial report conference in the second quarter of 2019, Tesla said that it has begun to move equipment to China's gigafactory, and is expected to be put into production in 2019, with a final production capacity of 500,000 vehicles per year, fundamentally alleviating Tesla's long-term production capacity bottleneck.
On January 7, 2020, Tesla delivered its first domestically produced Model 3 at its Shanghai Gigafactory, and Tesla's production soared from 365,000 in 2019 to 509,000 units, and continued to climb to 930,000 and 1.37 million units in 2021 and 2022. Among them, the proportion of output of the Shanghai Gigafactory has increased from 30% to 53%.
The "China speed" has ushered in a big bull market for Tesla's stock price, which has risen as much as 16 times in two years. Musk even bluntly said that "Tesla's future global headquarters should be in China, and the future CEO should also be Chinese."
However, in 2024, not only in the latest 2024 first quarter report, Tesla's profit plummeted by 55%, and its revenue hit the largest decline in 12 years, but also reported a global layoff of 10% of a total of 14,000 employees.
Since the beginning of this year, Tesla's stock price has fallen all the way, with a cumulative decline of up to 40% before the release of the earnings report.
However, after the trip to China, Tesla's stock price reversed. Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, said: "For Musk and Tesla, this trip to Beijing is a watershed moment. ”
Morgan Stanley auto analyst Adam Jonas commented: "THE BIGGEST SIGNAL OF MUSK'S VISIT TO CHINA IS THAT HE HAS GIVEN INVESTORS A PROMISE THAT HE WILL STILL FOCUS ON TESLA INSTEAD OF FOCUSING ON X (FORMERLY TWITTER) AND SPACE X." ”
Will fully autonomous driving come to China?
It is understood that this is Musk's second visit to China after nearly a year. The purpose of Musk's trip has also become the focus of attention.
Regarding the trip, a person familiar with the matter said that Musk is seeking to meet with Chinese officials in Beijing to discuss the launch of fully self-driving (FSD) software in China and seek approval.
The FSD self-driving system is considered to be the trump card and core thing of Tesla cars.
In April, in response to questions from Musk's social media platform, Tesla may offer FSD to Chinese customers "soon."
Tesla's official Weibo also mentions self-driving technology. On the evening of April 28, Tesla posted on Weibo that it was honored to participate in the rapid development of China's new energy vehicle industry. I sincerely thank friends from all walks of life for their care and support. "We will continue to work hard in China, develop together with the industry in artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, energy storage and other fields, accelerate the implementation of clean energy and autonomous driving technology, and turn our vision into reality. ”
However, in response to the recent news of Tesla's self-driving entry into China, Tesla responded that "there is no timetable for FSD to enter China."
However, some netizens found that Tesla's China FSD purchase page has been changed from a later launch to "coming soon".
It is understood that when Musk visited China last year, there was a voice of Tesla's FSD entering China, when Musk announced to the outside world that Tesla was willing to open FSD to other car companies.
Some analysts say that if Tesla's FSD enters China and is open to other car companies, it will greatly affect the entire domestic autonomous driving industry pattern, just as it has on the new energy vehicle industry.
"Tesla fsd is especially welcome to China". On April 29, He Xiaopeng, chairman of Xpeng Motors, claimed that Tesla has very good autonomous driving technology and brand, and he especially welcomes Tesla FSD into China. Only when more good products and technologies enter can the entire market and customers have more good experiences, so that the market can develop more benignly and accelerate.
Will China allow Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology to run in China after Musk's visit to China?In response to the question at the regular press conference of the Chinese Foreign Ministry held on April 29, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said: "We treat domestic and foreign enterprises equally and equally, welcome foreign enterprises to continue to deepen cooperation with China and share the fruits of China's economic development, and also hope that foreign enterprises will abide by China's laws and regulations and fulfill their safety commitments." ”
The restriction on domestic models has been lifted
According to media statistics, this is Musk's 11th visit to China. During Musk's visit to China, Tesla also took an important step in the compliance of intelligent driving in China.
On the day he arrived in China on April 28, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers and the National Computer Network Emergency Technology Processing and Coordination Center issued the "Notice on the Testing of Four Security Requirements for Automotive Data Processing (the First Batch)", and 76 models from six companies met the four compliance requirements for automotive data security.
Tesla is also among them, and is the only foreign-owned company that meets the compliance requirements.
In this regard, foreign media generally believe that this has cleared a major obstacle for the FSD system to enter the world's largest automobile market.
Tesla China also said that various localities have successively lifted the ban on driving and parking for Tesla and other intelligent connected vehicles. "We believe that the inspection and testing of data and personal information protection of vehicles sold by authoritative institutions in accordance with several provisions on automobile data and other laws and regulations will help enhance the public's trust in data application, promote the improvement of data security level of automobile enterprises and the entire industry, and help increase the attention of automobile enterprises to product data processing compliance, better use of data resources, and promote industrial development." ”
Tesla also revealed that Tesla has built Tesla's Shanghai data center in 2021 to achieve localized data storage. Tesla has also introduced a third-party authority to audit the company's information security management system and passed the security management system certification (ISO27001).
It is also reported that on the website of the Ministry of Natural Resources, in addition to the "Baidu Vehicle Map" (T version) for car navigation services, Baidu Maps has recently approved a number of "Advanced Assisted Driving Maps" by the Ministry of Natural Resources. A person familiar with the matter revealed that among the above-mentioned approved maps, the GS (2023) No. 4634 advanced assisted driving map submitted by Baidu Zhitu Technology Co., Ltd. for navigation is a lane-level map completed by the two parties, and the cooperation between Tesla and Baidu Maps is "exclusive" and deeply customized.
China's automotive development is affecting the world
As the most important international A-class auto show of the year, the Beijing Auto Show has returned after a four-year absence, attracting a lot of attention and attention, and is very popular. Although Tesla did not set up a booth at the auto show, Musk's visit to China during this period also added a boost to the auto show.
Global car companies brought nearly 1,000 exhibits to compete on the same stage, and brought 117 world premiere cars to make a stunning appearance, and new energy vehicles ranked firmly in the C position. Among them, the new energy vehicles of "made in China" have become the focus of attention.
In fact, behind the popularity of the auto show is the rapid development of China's new energy vehicle industry.
Chai Zhanxiang, assistant chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Automotive Industry Branch, said that the automobile industry reached 11 trillion yuan last year, becoming China's first economic pillar, and Chinese automobiles have become a witness to China's consumption upgrading and a spokesperson for high-tech products to be well-known overseas. "Through a B2C platform like the auto show, we can make consumers and potential car buyers feel the technological progress of automobiles in an all-round way, and really impress and influence their purchase decisions. ”
According to the latest data from the National Passenger Car Market Information Association, in the first half of April this year, the retail penetration rate of new energy passenger vehicles in China exceeded 50% for the first time. This historic milestone is 11 years ahead of the original 2035 planning target.
And the development momentum of China's automobiles is also affecting the world. China has become the world's largest consumer of automobiles and the world's largest exporter of automobiles.
In 2023, China's auto exports will rank first in the world for the first time, with vehicle exports of 4.91 million units, a year-on-year increase of 57.9%, and exports will contribute 55.7% to the growth of total auto sales. China's NEV exports totaled 1.203 million units, up 77.6% from the previous year, to more than 180 countries in Europe, Asia, Oceania, the Americas, Africa and other regions.
According to the latest data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, in January this year, the mainland exported 101,000 new energy vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 21.7%, and predicts that the mainland's automobile export sales will reach 5.5 million units in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 12%.
In addition, in areas such as new energy vehicles, foreign automakers are also stepping up cooperation with Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers. According to reports, two models jointly developed by Volkswagen and Xpeng Motors will be launched in 2026, and Toyota Motor and Tencent Group, Nissan Motor and Baidu, and Renault Motors and Xiaomi have all reached or plan to enter into strategic partnerships. The cooperation involves automotive R&D and manufacturing, as well as cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and big data.
For example, Mercedes-Benz Chief Technology Officer Xue Fuming made it clear at the auto show that China is the largest and most important market for Mercedes-Benz, and Mercedes-Benz has invested 1 billion euros in Chinese factories and localization, and will continue to strengthen research and development to meet the needs of local customers in the future.
There is no doubt that the manufacturing capacity and market potential of China's automobiles have affected the pattern and trend of the world's automobiles, especially under the strong offensive of new energy vehicle exports, which has resonated with the world's automotive peers.
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Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Song Xia
Editor/Fan Hongwei