Multiple state-owned firms in Shanghai buy Tesla Model Y to show support for foreign automakers
Multiple state-owned enterprises in Shanghai have purchased Tesla Model Ys as part of the city's efforts to optimize business environment and demonstrate equal treatment for domestic and foreign companies.
Multiple state-owned enterprises in Shanghai, where Tesla's (NASDAQ: TSLA) China factory is located, have purchased a batch of Model Y crossovers as part of the city's efforts to optimize business environment and demonstrate equal treatment for domestic and foreign companies.
State-owned enterprises, including Chengtou Xinggang Group and Lingang Investment Holding Group, have recently purchased a number of Tesla Model Y vehicles for corporate use, Lingang investment promotion service center said in a statement today.
This is the Lingang special area's response to implementing equal treatment of domestic and foreign enterprises in government procurement activities, the statement said.
The move is another win for Tesla in government procurement in China.
The Model Y made it into the Jiangsu provincial government's new energy vehicle (NEV) procurement catalog, the first case of a Tesla model making it into the government procurement catalog in China, according to a CnEVPost report yesterday.
Eligible SUVs need to have a range of more than 400 kilometers and cost less than RMB 250,000, according to Jiangsu's procurement requirements.
The Model Y is considered an SUV in China and the model entering the catalog is its entry-level, rear-wheel-drive version with a starting price of RMB 249,900 ($34,370) and a CLTC range of 554 km.
It's rare for a Tesla model to enter China's government procurement catalog, considering that several Chinese government parks, and even some airports, have previously banned Tesla vehicles due to security concerns.
Tesla's Shanghai factory, which began construction on January 7, 2019, and went into operation at the end of 2019, is the first wholly foreign-owned automotive manufacturing project in China.
Giga Shanghai began delivering Model 3 sedans in January 2020 and Model Y crossovers in January 2021 to local consumers.
Five years ago, Tesla's first overseas Gigafactory in Lingang, China's first wholly foreign-owned auto manufacturing project, set the Tesla speed and Shanghai speed of starting construction and production in the same year, the Lingang investment promotion service center said in the statement today.
The factory freed Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his company from production hell and has become a testament to the excellent business environment in Shanghai and Lingang, the statement said.
Five years later, Tesla chose Lingang again, with the start of construction of Tesla's Shanghai energy storage plant on May 23, the statement noted.
Tesla Model Y included in rare case in local government car purchasing catalog in China