Nearly six months after Elon Musk suggested Tesla could design a new car in China, the car manufacturer has officially invited car designers to submit designs for a new “China-style” EV.
Tesla took to Chinese social media site WeChat to confirm it is accepting design submissions for an all-new vehicle but didn’t specify if designers must be from China.
Read More: Tesla To Design ‘Chinese-Style’ Cars In China For The Global Market
Musk first commented on the possibility of a Chinese-designed Tesla model at a delivery event for the Model 3 at its Shanghai Gigafactory in January.
Back in Jan, @elonmusk talked abt creating a 🇨🇳 design center to design EVs for the global market. Now @Teslacn is openly asking designers & even nonpros to design a “China-style” EV & submit their works for job review. Tesla is expanding its footprints in the biggest auto market pic.twitter.com/hWQ06XVa5M
— Ray (@ray4tesla) June 15, 2020
“I think something that would be super cool would be to – and so we’re gonna do it, we’re gonna try to do it – would be to create a China design and engineering center to actually design an original car in China for worldwide consumption,” he said. “I think this will be very exciting. I think China has some of the best art in the world and I think it’s something that would be appreciated on a worldwide basis. I think it should be done, and we’re gonna do it.”
Details about this Chinese-designed Tesla are unclear, but it is expected to be a small car designed to slot below the Model 3 in the company’s family of models. Musk said in January the company wanted to do “something kinda radical, like Cybertruck, nobody was expecting that,” with its next model.
It is difficult to accurately estimate when this new Tesla could arrive, especially since it has yet to even be designed.
