Tesla Electric Motors said on Wednesday it signed an agreement with Shanghai's Chinese government to acquire a giant plot of land for the construction of its first Jiga plant outside the United States.
Tesla signed a long-awaited deal with the authorities in Shanghai last July to build its first factory outside the United States amid expectations that it would raise global manufacturing volume and help lower the price of Tesla cars in the world's largest car market.
Tesla did not say the price of the plot, but Shanghai's Planning and Land Resources Office said a 864,000-square-meter plot of land was sold at $ 140.5 million.
Tesla's agreement with the Shanghai government in July stipulated the opening of a factory in the Chinese city with an annual production capacity of 500,000 cars.
The new plant will help explore opportunities in China's fast-growing new auto market, despite China's auto market slowing.
A total of 721,000 cars were sold in the first nine months of this year, up 54.8 percent in September and 81.1 percent in the first nine months of this year, a union of Chinese automakers revealed last week.
