The danse macabre of Tesla with the Chinese dragon

Global Tesla sales are struggling, the Model 2 is buried, and the Robotaxi is delayed… Only China seems to matter!

The Chinese state media ThePaper.cn informed us this week that for the first time, a foreign manufacturer has been placed on the list of official suppliers of the Chinese government. The only other “non-Chinese” brand on this list is Volvo, but the Swedish manufacturer has belonged to the Chinese automotive group Geely since 2010, after being owned by Ford for eleven years.

Chinese government agencies and public groups can now source from Tesla without appearing to be bad patriots. It’s a bit like imagining a minister or senior executive at La Poste using a Tesla Model 3 as their company car… And China is infinitely more protectionist than France!

Tesla is a real Chinese manufacturer

This choice is justified by the fact that the only Teslas involved are those produced in China, at the Shanghai Giga, by Chinese workers. In this case, the argument is defensible, because it doesn’t matter what the passport is when 1 million cars roll out of this factory every year, and are mostly reserved for the Asian market. Only BYD does better, and very few Chinese brands come close to such figures.

China has clearly become the most important market for Tesla recently. Last year, Tesla generated nearly a quarter of its total revenue in China. It is also the first market where fully autonomous cars are expected to hit the roads, and this is Tesla’s absolute battle horse. The American manufacturer even had to acquire a 100% Chinese navigation system license for this purpose.

What if China rebelled?

It is, however, hard to imagine Chinese manufacturers sitting idly by while Elon Musk comes to take from their bowl. Nothing guarantees Tesla will quickly transition from hero to zero if the United States continues to sanction Chinese imports. And at that point, all of Elon Musk’s charm won’t be enough to quell the dragon’s flames.

ALSO READ: Tesla Model Y: the price of autonomy unlocking finally revealed