Days after putting off India visit, Tesla CEO Elon Musk lands in China

Days after postponing his India visit citing ‘very heavy Tesla obligations’, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has landed in Beijing on Sunday for a surprise visit, where he is expected to meet senior officials to discuss the rollout of Full Self-Driving (FSD) software and permission to transfer data overseas, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

Musk was scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and announce plans to enter the Indian market. “Unfortunately, very heavy Tesla obligations require that the visit to India be delayed, but I do very much look forward to visiting later this year,” the billionaire posted on X, the social platform he bought in 2022.

The US electric vehicle maker rolled out Full Self-Driving, or FSD, the most autonomous version of its autopilot software, four years ago but has yet to make it available in China, its second-largest market globally, despite customers urging it to do so, as per a Reuters report.

FSD, data transfer on agenda

According to a Bloomberg report, Tesla is working on getting FSD, the most advanced version of its autopilot technology, into new markets. Its vehicles have been banned from military compounds in China and some other government venues in the past, likely due to cybersecurity concerns over the cameras installed in the vehicles to operate.

Musk is also looking to obtain approval to transfer data collected in the country abroad to train algorithms for its autonomous driving technologies. Tesla has since 2021 stored all data collected by its Chinese fleet in Shanghai as required by Chinese regulators and has not transferred any back to the United States.

Eyeing Chinese market

Musk's itinerary on Sunday afternoon includes a meeting with Ren Hongbin, a government official who heads the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, the organiser of the Beijing auto show currently underway, state media reported. “At the invitation of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Tesla (US) CEO Elon Musk arrived in Beijing this afternoon,” Chinese state broadcaster CCTV was quoted by Reuters as saying.

“It is good to see electric vehicles making progress in China. All cars will be electric in the future,” Musk said in a video posted on social media by a user affiliated with state media.

Tesla has sold more than 1.7 million cars in China since it entered the market a decade ago and the Shanghai factory is its largest globally. Musk's visit coincides with the Beijing auto show, which opened last week and ends on May 4.

Tough times for Tesla

Tesla has been witnessing challenging times, as its shares are down amid growing concerns about the EV maker's growth trajectory. Last week, Tesla reported its first decline in quarterly revenue since 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic slowed production and deliveries.

The company said this month that it would lay off 10% of its global workforce as it grapples with falling sales and an intensifying price war for EVs led by Chinese brands. It has reduced prices of EVs in key markets such as the US and China.

US auto safety regulators said on Friday they had opened a probe into whether Tesla's recall of more than 2 million vehicles in the US announced in December to install new autopilot safeguards was adequate following a series of crashes.