Tesla said during the ninth China International Import Expo that the localisation rate of components at its Shanghai gigafactory has reached 98%, higher than the "more than 95%" it had disclosed for years, according to a November 8 report by US automotive outlet EVXL.
Tesla now has more than 400 tier-one suppliers in China, and more than 60 of them have entered its global supply chain, a figure also cited in a Xinhua report on the expo on November 9. The Shanghai plant started production in late 2019 and mainly builds the Model 3 and Model Y, with annual capacity of more than 950,000 vehicles.
Cooperation is expanding from parts manufacturing to product development: for the six-seat Model Y L, Tesla worked with Chinese suppliers on comfort features such as seat armrests and leg rests. The model launched in China first, then reached Japan, South Korea and Australia, and went on sale in the United States in July. Data from the China Passenger Car Association show Tesla China wholesale sales of 67,829 units in October, up 10.3% year on year, and 810,000 units for January-October, up 21.4%.