Tesla’s revenue from China last year tripled to more than US$1 billion, indicating better traction in the market the chief executive Elon Musk has predicted could eventually become the company’s biggest.
China accounted for more than 15 per cent of Tesla’s more than $7bn of total revenue last year, according to a US regulatory filing. Sales from the United States more than doubled to $4.2bn.
Last week, The National reported that the investment development agency Dubai FDI said it would help Tesla to expand throughout the UAE and wider Middle East as the emirate bids to be the regional centre for the American car maker.
Dubai FDI, part of the Department of Economic Development, said it will collaborate with the electric vehicle (EV) company to catapult adoption throughout the region. Dubai will be a launchpad for Tesla across new markets while making the UAE its regional hub, said Fahad Al Gergawi, the chief executive of Dubai FDI.
“Dubai FDI is successfully engaging with game-changing companies and investors worldwide, enabling them to use Dubai as a vantage point for market access and business development,” he said adding that clean energy innovations were integral to the Dubai Plan 2021.
“Dubai FDI will continue to assist Tesla to expand and grow in the region and its neighbourhood,” he said.
Mr Musk announced this month that the company was making its debut in the region with a showroom and service centre in Dubai. After a splashy start in the world’s most populous country in 2014, the electric-car maker faced setbacks including slow deliveries, orders by customers that Musk dubbed “speculators” and concerns about charging that the CEO blamed on his local sales staff. China revenue fell by a third in 2015.
To help address driving range concerns, Tesla said it would introduce converters that allow owners to power their vehicles at state-run charging points. The Palo Alto, California-based company doesn’t release vehicle sales or deliveries by country.
Tesla last year acquired SolarCity, which had about 12,243 full-time employees as of the end of 2016, according to a filing. Headcount plunged about 20 per cent from the 15,273 workers the solar-panel installer employed a year earlier.
More than 97 per cent of revenue for Palo Alto, California-based Tesla comes from its automotive businesses, with the rest coming from energy generation and storage.
* Agencies
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