Epoch Times - Tesla Faces Growing Hostility in China | Epoch News | China Insider
Aired: 2021-02-17
Duration: 04:46


=== China's Electric Car Industry Chain Threat (04:05) ===

[00:00:00]  After receiving negative news and being summoned by CCP authorities, Tesla's sales in China dropped in January.
[00:00:08]  Is the CCP attacking Tesla?
[00:00:10]  What is the purpose behind the authorities' actions?
[00:00:13]  Let's look at some analysis.
[00:00:14]  In February, Chinese media reported many negative news about Tesla.
[00:00:19]  According to CNHubei.com, some car owners in Nanchang City experienced abnormal conditions after charging and could not start their cars up.
[00:00:30]  Tesla is preparing to recall 130,000 vehicles over touchscreen failures.
[00:00:35]  Another 36,000 vehicles are to be recalled because of memory card problems.
[00:00:40]  After a wave of negative news, on February 8, Tesla was summoned by five departments, including the State Administration for Market Regulation.
[00:00:50]  The Xinhua News Agency, the official mouthpiece of the CCP, issued three articles in a row, emphasizing that Tesla responded to being inquired by five departments.
[00:01:00]  It will strictly comply with Chinese laws and regulations.
[00:01:04]  According to the latest data released on February 15, Tesla's sales in China in January saw a rare plunge.
[00:01:12]  With deliveries less than 70% compared to December.
[00:01:16]  According to an analysis by U.S.-based commentator Tang Jingyuan, Tesla gained momentum in China because of low prices, high quality, and its leading brand image for electric cars.
[00:01:28]  CCP authorities found it difficult to resist Tesla's momentum even with massive subsidies for domestic electric vehicles, such as BYD Auto, NIO, and XPeng Motors.
[00:01:42]  We have seen the official figures released by the CCP itself.
[00:01:46]  The Chinese market already accounts for more than 20% of Tesla's overseas market, which is a very large share, and Tesla has launched the model in the range of $46,000 to $61,000, basically occupying the dominant position, which is a huge threat to the CCP. At the end of 2019, Tesla's Gigafactory in Shanghai, China was built from scratch in just one year and is already in mass production.
[00:02:12]  Experts analyzed that the CCP's original intention is to use Tesla to attract upstream and downstream industry chains.
[00:02:20]  The China market is very critical for Tesla.
[00:02:29]  It's Shanghai's biggest ever industrial investment.
[00:02:32]  Shanghai's municipal government gave it a discount, providing it with preferential loans and prices.
[00:02:38]  The purpose is to bring Tesla to China.
[00:02:40]  After that, it's not just to sell cars, because there are many upstream and downstream industry chain developments related to cars.
[00:02:48]  What the CCP really wants is to make this industry chain take root in China.
[00:02:54]  Taiwanese entrepreneur and social activist Kaowei Bang pointed out that it took only one year for Tesla to achieve good sales in China, which caused the CCP to worry.
[00:03:05]  According to statistics, the sales volume of the Tesla Model 3 in China exceeded 130,000 in 2020, and is expected to reach 278,000 in 2021.
[00:03:17]  Last September, Tesla's founder, Elon Musk, announced during Battery Day that the company plans to build a 25,000 all-electric car with new batteries within the next three years and launch it in China.
[00:03:31]  Cao believes that the low price will hit the market space of China's domestic electric cars.
[00:03:36]  Tang believes that Tesla has threatened the interests of the powerful and wealthy families of the CCP. In addition to the economy,

=== Tesla's Social Media Storm (00:54) ===

[00:03:52]  Tesla founder Elon Musk has made some notable comments recently, including taking a stand for retail investors during the GameStop stock fiasco and inviting Vladimir Putin to chat on social messaging app Clubhouse.
[00:04:07]  In the United States, the Biden administration has invited Tesla to support its new energy policy by announcing that all 650,000 US public service vehicles will be replaced with American-made electric vehicles.
[00:04:21]  If Tesla launches a 25,000 model as planned or continues to make further progress in the market, Tesla's growth in China in 2021 is likely to be a year full of stormy waves.
[00:04:35]  Due to some new restrictions on social media our channel might be affected.
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