Musk's sudden visit to China! Tesla FSD and Robotaxi projects are ready!
On the afternoon of April 28, at the invitation of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Musk's private jet Gulfstream G550 arrived in Beijing and met with Chinese bigwig Li Qiang and other senior officials, including the director of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, accompanied by Tesla executive Zhu Xiaotong.
Why is this visit to China important?
As Tesla's core electric vehicle business is struggling due to economic uncertainty that has slowed the adoption of its core electric vehicle business, Tesla will pin its hopes on recurring high-margin revenue through the adoption of its FSD software suite.
The FSD project has ended beta testing and is currently being promoted in North America as FSD Supervised.
Tesla's sales in China fell 4% year-on-year to 132,420 vehicles in the first quarter, despite a 32% increase in total production of new energy vehicles (including hybrid vehicles), according to Automobility.
Data shows that Tesla's local market share in the industry is 7.5%, lagging behind BYD's 33%. To maintain its lead at home, Tesla has cut prices of its Shanghai-made cars by up to 6%.
Speaking on Tesla's first-quarter earnings call, Musk expressed his desire to launch FSD in other markets.
"We plan to release it as a regulated autonomous system to any market where we can get regulatory approval, which we think includes China," he said.
