Tesla Drawing Huge Crowds At Shanghai Expo Shows 'Chinese Consumers And US Products Are Still Intertwined:' Expert

Tesla Inc. TSLA, which recently shut down its first showroom in Beijing, stole the show at China’s world's largest import trade fair, showing a deepening appeal among Chinese customers for U.S. products, says an expert.  

What Happened: The Elon Musk-led EV maker dominated the China International Import Expo (CIIE) that started on Saturday in Shanghai, despite its new models on display not yet being available to mainland buyers, reported the South China Morning Post.

The report noted that although fewer people visited the trade fair due to COVID-19 curbs, Nio Inc.‘s NIO rival in China attracted a huge crowd on Sunday afternoon. 

See Also: Tesla China Sales Lag Warren Buffett-Backed Rival By 44% In October: Analyst Says There’s Something To Cheer About Anyway

"Tesla's success [in China] proves that Chinese consumers and US products are still intertwined," the chief of Shanghai Yacheng Culture, a firm that deals with marketing and branding for retail companies, told the publication.

"After all, geopolitical tensions will not stop US and European companies from doing business in China, because of the gargantuan size of the market," he added. 

An anonymous Tesla official at the booth said the crowd exceeded the company's expectations.

Tesla "had just hoped to share [its] latest products and vision about new-energy vehicles, but many visitors were keen on owning the new models," said the official.

This came after Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Friday that Beijing was resolute in its aim of opening up and "turning China's enormous market into enormous opportunities for the world." 

Xi, while kicking off the fifth edition of the CIIE in a televised speech, added that the country remains committed to the fundamental national policy of opening up to the outside world, pursues a mutually beneficial strategy of opening up and adheres to the right course of economic globalization.

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