Made-In-China Teslas Are The Highest Quality, Says Musk: 'It Warms My Heart'

Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk is back in America after a two-day trip to China, his first since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The billionaire entrepreneur made a pitstop at Giga Shanghai as part of his tour and delivered a late-night speech praising his Chinese staff.

What Happened: Sharing pictures from his visit to the Gigafactory on Wednesday evening, Musk tweeted, “Congratulations to Giga Shanghai & Tesla China SDS teams for their excellent work overcoming many obstacles over many years!!” 

A video shared on Twitter also showed Musk delivering a speech at the factory.

“Thank you for being here late at night. I would very much like to congratulate you on the amazing work that you’ve done. It’s been incredibly impressive how you have been able to overcome so many difficulties and so many challenges. I just wanted to let you know that it warms my heart,” Musk says in the video.

“I’ve told people throughout the world, cars that we produce here [China] are not just the most efficient … but also the highest quality.”

Why It Matters: Musk’s visit to the Gigafactory occurred on the second day of his trip to China. During the trip, he also held meetings with China’s industry, commerce, and foreign ministers, as well as CATL Chairman Zeng Yuqun.

In August of last year, Giga Shanghai achieved a significant milestone by completing the production of one million cars. Despite facing multiple production suspensions due to COVID-19 outbreaks, subsequent lockdowns, and supply issues in the country, Tesla continues to manufacture over 80,000 units per month.

Among all of Tesla’s Gigafactories, Giga Shanghai, its first overseas factory, had the fastest construction time, taking only 10 months to establish. While there were initial expectations that the upcoming Gigafactory in Mexico would surpass this record by being built in nine months, it was later clarified that a longer timeline would be required.

Read More: Ford Hits Blue Cross Blue Shield With Anti-Trust Lawsuit — Alleges ‘Conspiracy’

(Image created with artificial intelligence on MidJourney and Jonathan Weiss on Shutterstock)