Elon Musk Breaks Ground on Tesla's Shanghai Factory

Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Shanghai Mayor Ying Yong celebrated on Monday the ground breaking of the electric automaker's first non-U.S. factory. From a report: 'China is becoming the global leader in electric vehicle adoption, and it is a market that is critical to Tesla's mission to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy,' Musk said, according to a company statement coinciding with the ceremony for the Shanghai factory. In Twitter posts before the event, Musk said that the factory will produce 'affordable versions' of Model 3 and Model Y vehicles for the Greater China region, and that the plan is to 'finish initial construction this summer, start Model 3 production end of year and reach high volume production next year.'

According to the company, the so-called Gigafactory in Shanghai 'will allow Tesla to localize production of Model 3 and future models sold in China, with plans to eventually produce approximately 3,000 Model 3 vehicles per week in the initial phase and to ramp up to 500,000 vehicles per year when fully operational (subject to local factors including regulatory approval and supply chain constraints).'

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