"You could argue that as Tesla, I've got new products, I need to have a new factory to build them in," he said.
"But viewed from the China government's point of view, all they see is a market that's oversupplied."
Construction of Tesla's Shanghai plant took less than a year to complete after it broke ground on the site in 2019.
U.S. luxury EV maker Lucid Group (LCID.O) is also keen to make cars in China but has been advised that the possibility was low, industry sources said.
"China needed Tesla to open the market for retail consumers, but Tesla needs China, because the supply chain benefits of being here and the competitive bar that's set here makes Tesla a more competitive company globally.
Persons:
Tesla, Bill Russo, I've, Elon Musk, Ding Xuexiang, Musk, it's, Dan Ives, EVs, Nio, Xiaomi, Automobility's Russo, Zhang Yan, Brenda Goh, Jamie Freed
Organizations:
National Development, Reform Commission, Tesla, Wedbush Securities, Reuters, HK, Lucid, Thomson
Locations:
China, SHANGHAI, Shanghai, Beijing, CHINA, United States, Southeast Asia, Canada, India, South Korea, Indonesia