Tesla hopes to recover from subpar US performance by revolutionizing the Chinese market

Gasgoo.com (Shanghai October 8) - As Tesla is prepping up to enter the China market, Chinese new energy automobile manufacturers are also preparing for new competition. In a quote appearing in the Nanfang Metropolis Daily, BYD CEO Wang Chuanfu announced that his company "can build a Tesla a minute"; this eventually led to the launch of the BYD Qin hybrid and pure electric vehicles. Fellow Chinese manufacturer Geely has also announced that its future work will focus on new energy vehicles.

The introduction of favorable government policies has also helped increase the interest that the new energy vehicle market in China is generating. Tesla CEO Elon Musk's announcement of possible cooperation with Toyota, as well as statements that Tesla's products would be built to meet strict Chinese standards, has drawn even more attention to the country's new energy vehicle market.

Many analysts believe that Tesla's push to develop in the Chinese market are a response to its lackluster performance in the United States. Many American states have actually banned sales of Tesla's vehicles because of the company's insistence to sell cars directly to consumers instead of through dealerships, which are backed by traditional fuel manufacturers.

The difficulties Tesla are dealing with selling cars in its home country is precisely why analysts believe new energy vehicles sales have more promise in China than in the US. Where the US possesses a great deal of oil, China has to import a large proportion of its oil from overseas. In order to decrease dependency on foreign oil, the Chinese government has been taking large measures to promote the new energy vehicle market.

However, when compared with opening up new gas stations, setting up a new charging station in China is still very difficult. Lack of infrastructure still remains one of the largest obstacles hindering the growth of the new energy vehicle market in the country.

Tesla is hoping to do its best to buck this trend. The manufacturer announced that it will help set up charging infrastructure in both China and Japan. By the end of 2015, Tesla will help add at least 30 charging stations in China. Whether or not Tesla can succeed in revolutionizing the Chinese automobile market remains to be seen.