Tesla plans to achieve weekly production of Model 3 cars by 3,000 in China

SAN FRANCISCO - US top electric carmaker Tesla Inc said Friday it is planning to produce 3,000 Model 3 sedans per week in China in the near future.

In a regulatory filing released Friday, Tesla said it is going to invest up to $6 billion on factories and equipment over the next two years, while it is also developing plans to start producing approximately 3,000 Model 3 vehicles per week in Shanghai, China.

The Palo Alto, California-based electric car giant said China is the largest market for electric vehicles in the world and its local market in there is at the initial phase of Gigafactory 3, which will have increased levels of localization through local sourcing and manufacturing.

Tesla's Gigafactory 1 is a plant near Clark, Nevada state, which produces batteries and parts of the Model 3 drive train, while Gigafactory 2 is its solar power plant in Buffalo, New York.

Tesla admitted there is no timeframce for Gigafactory 3 in China due to a number of uncertainties, including regulatory approval, supply chain constraints, and the pace of bringing the factory online.

However, Tesla said it is trying to accelerate its manufacturing timeline in China to significantly increase the affordability of Model 3 for customers in the world's most populous country.

"Local manufacturing may be critical to our expansion and sales in China," said the US e-vehicle maker.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk signed a $2 billion agreement with China's Shanghai government in July this year to build a new auto plant in Shanghai, the financial and economic hub in eastern China. It is the company's first factory outside the United States, which was believed to be able to double the size of the electric car maker's global manufacturing.

Tesla planned to produce the first cars about two years after construction began in the Shanghai plant, which will be ramped up to an annual output of 500,000 vehicles in about two to three years.

As the largest market for electric cars, China has been pushing for achieving a goal of 100 percent electric vehicles by 2030 as set in government documents.

More than 28 million vehicles were sold in China in 2017, and the figure could top 35 million annually by 2025.