U.S. automaker Tesla on Monday delivered its second electrically-powered vehicle made exclusively in China for the Chinese market.
“Model Y deliveries in China have officially begun,” the company announced on Twitter.
The Model Y follows the Model 3 as the first Tesla vehicles for sale in China produced at Tesla’s $2 billion Gigafactory plant in Shanghai, which opened just two years ago.
The U.S. based cable business news network CNBC says China is critical to Tesla’s growth plans as it is the world’s largest EV market. The company is looking to increase its vehicle sales volume from about 500,000 vehicles in 2020 to 20 million annually over the next decade.
The online China Economic newspaper says Tesla also plans to invest $6.4 million in the construction of a supercharger manufacturing plant in Shanghai with an initial planned annual production capacity of 10,000 superchargers. It is expected to be operational in the first quarter of 2021.
