October 26, Tesla Shanghai Super Factory China-made vehicle exported to Europe ceremony was held in Tesla Shanghai Super Factory. A year ago or imported luxury electric car brand, a year later actually domestic production and domestic sales to export.
According to Shanghai Oriental TV, the first batch of Model?3 exported to Europe totaling up to 7,000 units has arrived at Shanghai Haitong International Automobile Terminal, and is expected to set sail next Tuesday, arriving at the port of Zeebrugge, Belgium at the end of next month at the earliest, and will be sold to more than a dozen European countries such as Germany, France, Italy, and Switzerland.
According to Tesla's official introduction, the export to Europe is the upgraded version of the Model 3 standard range, which is consistent with the model supplied to the Chinese market. Combined with the previous network of French, German and Italian owners have sun single "?Model?3-China" description, the invoice has a vehicle identification code also shows that it is made in China for the year 2020 to see, this batch of Model?3 is not simply to build inventory, but part of the model is already going to enter the delivery.
This means that Tesla's move to export its Chinese-made models to Europe has been a long time in the making. Then there are a few more questions in this, which make me curious.
What is the purpose of seeking farther away from home?
Currently, Tesla has two car super factory, respectively, is located in San Francisco Fremont Super Factory and China Shanghai Super Factory. While the Fremont complete car assembly plant is by the Nevada battery factory and the Buffalo, New York factory to provide important parts, has been the European market sales of Tesla, are supplied by Fremont. And at the beginning of the construction of the Shanghai Super Factory, Musk has been stating that the Shanghai factory is built to meet the local demand in China, and will not export the domestic Tesla to other markets.
We dialed back the timeline to early 2019, when the Tesla Model?3 was first delivered in the European market, produced in three weeks and two days, departing from San Francisco on January 12, local time, and arriving in Zeebrugge, Belgium, on February 5, local time. And according to the current shipping forecast, the fastest will take 5 weeks to arrive. What made Tesla change its mind about exporting the Chinese-made Model?3 to Europe?
Currently, Tesla's models on sale in China are categorized into standard range upgrade version, long range version and Performance version. According to Tesla's official introduction, the Model?3 standard range upgrade version is exported to Europe, which is the same as that supplied to the Chinese market. The current lithium iron phosphate battery supplier for the standard range upgraded version is Ningde Times.
In the past, a Model?3 cost about 1,700 euros to ship by sea from the U.S. to Europe, and with the switch to importing from China, logistics costs could rise slightly. According to domestic economic institutions, the Model?3's production costs are about 20-28 percent lower than the U.S. version after it adopts a domestic supply chain in China. And lithium iron phosphate battery compared to the previous lithium battery, the cost is further reduced. At present, the domestic market price of the standard range upgrade version of the domestic Model?3 has dropped to 249,900 yuan (after subsidies). As you can imagine, it's definitely worthwhile for Tesla to export the Chinese-made Model 3 to Europe.
Berlin factory still to be built, China's exports for the optimal solution for production capacity
Previously, foreign new energy media insideEVs has pointed out that Tesla's Shanghai factory has unparalleled production and supply stability, which is due to the fact that it is the only one of Tesla's factories that adopts a two-shift system, and has an independent production and final assembly system.
The Tesla Shanghai factory, which will go into operation in January 2020, has a nominal maximum capacity of 200,000 units per year, with a current weekly output of 3,500 units. For reference, Tesla's local Fremont Superfactory in the U.S. has a projected capacity of 185,000 units this year.
It is important to know that the production assembly line of the Shanghai factory is only planned for Model?3 and Model?Y, while the Fremont Superfactory is still required to produce Model?S, Model?X and other models. In addition, affected by the epidemic, Fremont factory in March-May this year had a shutdown, cargo ship information shows that in the first quarter of 2020, Tesla has seven cargo ships from the United States to Europe, the second quarter of only two left, to Fremont as the source of the supply chain, obviously inadequate.
Just by coincidence, in the first half of this year, European electric vehicle sales exceeded China for the first time since 2015, and the cumulative January-September sales of about 777,000 electric vehicles, up 105 percent from a year earlier. And Model?3 ranked second in European EV sales. In other words the Fremont plant certainly can't be a foot-dragging presence at a time of growing demand in Europe.
We all know that imported European goods often require certification, and Tesla's relevant person in charge said that as the first super factory outside the United States, the Shanghai factory uses the most advanced production lines, using a large number of robots and highly automated production lines. At the same time, the Shanghai factory, with the advantage of the surrounding automotive industry chain agglomeration, has excellent standards in manufacturing process and production management, and has passed all the high standard certification requirements for entering the European market.
Elon Musk has said that Tesla plans to build factories on every continent. This will also mean that the distance for car deliveries will be shorter and cars can reach consumers faster, so manufacturing in China must not be the ultimate answer for Tesla in the European market. According to the plan, Tesla plans to invest 4 billion euros in the construction of the Berlin super factory, and its annual production capacity is planned to reach 150,000 vehicles. However, the Berlin super factory will be mainly responsible for the production of Model?Y in the early stage of its construction, and it will be completed and put into production only in July 2021, so it is evident that Tesla China will have a lot of chances to earn some "euros" in a long period of time.
Summary
Some people say that the domestic Tesla's export is another testimony of "Made in China" being accepted by the world's high-end consumers, while others say that Tesla has enjoyed the dividends of China's joint venture to open up its share ratio, and has taken root in this new energy market with the greatest potential. I agree with both views, and it is not uncommon to see cases of independent brands being sold in overseas markets and joint venture brands being sold back to their home countries or overseas (e.g., BMW iX3, Volvo S90, etc.), which is enough to see the status of Chinese manufacturing in the international arena.
This article comes from the author of the automobile home car family, does not represent the views of the automobile home position.