In a post shared on the WeChat social network, Tesla has revealed that it will be opening a design and research and development centre in China to make “Chinese-style” cars.
“In order to shift from ‘made in China’ to ‘designed in China’, Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk proposed a very cool idea – to set up a design and research and development centre in China,” the post read.
In the talent recruitment post, Tesla also shared a new design sketch, resembling a compact hatchback with Model Y-inspired styling. The image is accompanied by the caption “integrate the beautiful Chinese arts into the future-facing Teslas”.
The post further notes that the Chinese-designed car will be destined for the global market.
The post comes after Elon Musk’s comments at the launch of the third Gigafactory in Shanghai, China. During the launch event, Musk said, “I think something that would be super cool would be to — and so we’re gonna do it, we’re gonna try to do it — would be to create a China design and engineering center to actually design an original car in China for worldwide consumption.
“I think this will be very exciting. I think China has some of the best art in the world, and I think it’s something that would be appreciated on a worldwide basis. I think it should be done, and we’re gonna do it,” he added.
Last year, Tesla delivered 367,500 cars worldwide – over 50% more than 2018’s total of 245,240.
