Elon Musk has arrived in Beijing amid hopes he will bring Tesla’s autonomous driving technology to China amid intensified competition with local electric vehicle (EV) makers in the world’s largest automobile market, according to people familiar with the matter.
The agenda and detailed itinerary of Musk’s visit is not yet known, as Tesla has not confirmed Musk’s China visit. But publicly available aviation data shows his private jet was last night heading for China.
The Austin, Texas-based carmaker has faced fierce competition from Chinese EV makers over the past few years. It has cut the prices of its Shanghai-made vehicles by up to 6 per cent to maintain its leading position in China’s premium segment.
China has seen the increased adoption of advanced driver-assistance systems and higher levels of autonomous driving functions in mass-produced cars, and Musk said Tesla’s autopilot and full self-driving (FSD) options could soon be provided to its Chinese customers, when he was asked about progress on FSD on X, the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter, by a Chinese Tesla owner.
Musk’s latest visit to China also coincides with 2024 Beijing Auto Show, which kicked off on Thursday and runs through Saturday. The event has this year gathered more than 1,500 exhibitors, with the biggest names showing off their latest EVs.
Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla, X and SpaceX, among others, met three government ministers during a three-day trip to China in June last year. The trip was warmly received by the Chinese public, with social-media posts focusing on the list of Chinese food Musk ate, and some referring to him as a “pioneer” and “brother Ma”.
Tesla, the front-runner in China’s premium EV segment, delivered 603,664 Model 3s and Model Ys made at its Shanghai Gigafactory to buyers in China last year, an increase of 37.3 per cent over 2022. This tally was nearly unchanged from the 37 per cent rise in sales recorded in 2022, when it delivered about 440,000 vehicles.
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