Elon Musk: Localized Telsa Production Is Coming In China, And Soon

Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) will localize both engineering and production in China within three years, according to a report on Shanghai Daily.

On Friday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk told Xinhua, "We have a strong long-term commitment to China, and we tend to establish both local production and local engineering in China."

Currently, the Tesla factory in China has yet to ramp-up to full production, which necessitates the importation of models from Tesla's U.S. factory.

Related Link: What's Causing Tesla's Slump?

According to the report, as the factory in China "reaches full capacity, [Musk said] it is ‘just the sensible logical thing' to ‘localize production in China for the Chinese market, in Europe for the European market.'"

Musk acknowledged the company's difficult start in China and that "speculators and scalpers" had led the company to believe that initial demand was stronger than it actually was.

The CEO concluded, "It is clear that we need to think of China in a very long-term way. We need to steadily boost the confidence of the Chinese consumers."

Tesla Motors Inc recently traded at $186.75, down 1.92 percent.