特斯拉(Tesla)在上海设立汽车融资租赁公司

Tesla has set up a financial leasing company in Shanghai, "Tesla Financial Leasing (China) Co., Ltd." , with registered capital of $30 million, a latest move in its efforts to advance its push in the world's largest auto market。

The new company 特斯拉融资租赁( )有限公司 was registered in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone on December 19. Zhu Xiaotong is the legal representative and chairman, according to a filing from China's National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System.

The company, whose sole shareholder is Tesla Motors HK Limited, will offer financial leasing services and support of new energy and related products.

Tesla Motors HK was established in April 2010, with core business of automotive sales. By the end of 2017, it posted revenue of HK$2.4 billion, with total assets of HK$4 billion.

Tesla is the first foreign carmaker to be granted approval to establish a wholly owned plant in China as the nation opens its automotive industry wider to the world.

In July, Tesla CEO Elon Musk signed an agreement in Shanghai to open Tesla's "Gigafactory 3" in the city, with the capacity to produce 500,000 electric vehicles a year, which is also the first of its kind outside the United States.

In October, Tesla announced that it obtained a 1,300 mu (866,667 square meters) land for 973 million yuan for the facility. Two months later, the Shanghai municipal government said in a WeChat post that Tesla will start partial production in China in the second half of next year.

California-based Tesla made a net profit of $311.5 million during the three months ending in September, swinging from a loss of $619 million at the same time last year.

Over the last two months, Tesla has cut prices of some models in China for three times. According to Tesla's Chinese website, the starting prices of a Models 3 in China now is 499,000 yuan.  

Tesla Inc has registered a financial leasing company in China, a local business registration filing shows, in the latest sign the U.S. electric car maker is attempting to speed up its push into China.

The California-based carmaker, led by billionaire Chief Executive Elon Musk, has opened a wholly-owned financial leasing unit in Shanghai's free trade zone with registered capital of $30 million, according to China's National Enterprise Information Publicity System.

Its scope includes leasing and consultancy, the document said, which listed the firm's legal representative as Zhu Xiaotong, Tesla's boss in China.

Tesla declined to comment.

The company has opened a tender process to build its Shanghai Gigafactory and at least one contractor has started buying materials, Reuters reported earlier this month.

The $2 billion factory, Tesla's first in China, marks a major bet by the U.S. electric vehicle (EV) maker as it looks to bolster its presence in the world's biggest auto market where it faces rising competition from a swathe of domestic EV makers and its earnings have been hit by increased tariffs on U.S. imports.