Photo taken on May 17, 2014 shows a Tesla Model S electronic car at an activity in Nanchang, capital of east China's Jiangxi Province. (File photo: Xinhua/Zhou Mi)
U.S. electric car maker Tesla Motors Inc clarified on Tuesday that it has not signed a 30 billion yuan ($4.5 billion) joint investment agreement with a Shanghai local company on building its production facilities in the city.
Duan Zhengzheng, senior PR manager at Tesla China, told China Daily that the automaker is currently on the early stages of investigating a most appropriate location for its China plant. And that the reports about building a $4.5 billion Shanghai-based production base are groundless rumors.
Bloomberg, citing a person familiar with the matter, said earlier that Shanghai-based Jinqiao Group has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with Tesla on building the facilities, with the former putting up land for most of its share.
The office of the chairman's secretary of Shanghai Jinqiao Export Processing Zone Development Co Ltd, the listed company arm of Jinqiao Group, refused to comment on the rumored deal.
Both the A-shares and B-shares of the company's stocks increased and are currently being suspended.
Southeastern cities, such as Suzhou and Hefei, have also been actively seeking potential partnerships with Tesla, according to the report.
In late May, Tesla's Chief Technology Officer and co-founder JB Straubel told China Daily that adding a factory only makes sense after the market reached a "critical mass", meaning the electric car giant still needs a convincing scale before it decides to add a production site in China.
On April 27, Xin Guobin, vice-minister of industry and information technology, had a meeting with Jon McNeill, Tesla's president of global sales and service in Beijing.
The ministry said on its website that talks centered on development of Tesla's China business and further cooperation.
The first mass-market car Tesla launched on April 1 this year received the second-most preorders from China, according to Ren Yuxiang, Tesla's head for Asia Pacific, who didn't disclose the specific figures.
The country was Tesla's second largest market last year despite a slump in revenue.
A China Daily report at the end of last year quoted Tesla CEO Elon Musk saying the company planned to build a factory in China in three years, without providing details on the location.
