Tesla To Design ‘Chinese-Style’ Cars In China For The Global Market

Tesla is planning to establish a design and research center in China that will make “Chinese-style” vehicles, Reuters reports.

“In order to achieve a shift of ‘Made in China’ to ‘Designed in China,’ Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk has proposed a very cool thing — set up a design and research center in China,” a recruitment notice shared by Tesla on its WeChat account read.

It remains to be seen when Tesla could establish a local design center and just how quickly it could design and build vehicles. However, Musk believes these Chinese-designed vehicles could be sold worldwide.

Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory

A design sketch included in the recruitment notice seems to offer one potential look at how a ‘Chinese-style’ Tesla model could look. The car presented features a similar front end to the forthcoming Model Y but appears significantly smaller.

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Recently speaking at an event to mark the start of local Model 3 production, Elon Musk expanded on the local design goals.

“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,” he said. “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.”

Tesla’s seemingly new-found fondness of China comes shortly after the car manufacturer’s massive production facility in Shanghai started operations late last year and is now producing Model 3s for the local market. Last week, Elon Musk confirmed that the Model Y will also be produced at the Shanghai site.