Tesla founder and owner Elon Musk is, without a doubt, a very successful man. Having co-founded PayPal, he then went on to realize his dreams by investing in the automotive, aerospace and solar-power industry.
He has also been cited by Iron Man director Jon Favreau as being the person Tony Stark, aka the Iron Man’s billionaire alter ego, was modeled after. That’s a nice complement, especially since Robert Downey Jr. pulled it off quite nicely.
It’s not just Hollywood that took notice of Musk’s success and controversial tactics, like eschewing the traditional dealership model in favor of mall center outlets and direct sales of the Tesla Model S.
Chinese billionaire Jia Yueting, the founder and Chairman of Leshi Internet Information & Technology, announced last week that he has spent the past year developing an electric car and will try to obtain a license to manufacture it locally.
According to Bloomberg, Yueting wants the authorities to allow companies other than car manufacturers to build automobiles and is pretty confident that he can beat Tesla in China.
“Leshi has been trying to diversify and it’s the CEO’s wish to become bigger and enter new industries”, iResearch analyst Luke Xu said. “The government is encouraging the development of the electric-vehicle industry and everyone sees an opportunity in the fast developing market.”
The 41-years old Chinese billionaire has been in talks with BAIC as well as other automakers about producing electric cars. Moreover, he has invested in US-based battery maker Atieva and has an R&D team based in Silicon Valley.
Last April, Musk said that eventually China will surpass the US and become the world’s biggest for Tesla’s EVs. Richard Lan, a Beijing-based company official, wouldn’t comment on Yueting’s statement about beating Tesla.
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