Tesla Model 3 (Photo/VCG)

Sept. 27 (NBD) – The main body of electric car upstart Tesla's Gigafactory 3 in Shanghai has been completed, and the first Model 3 body-in-white has rolled off the line. The volume production for the Chinese-made vehicle is expected to start by the end of this year.

The Shanghai facility's workshops for punching, painting and general assembly are now ready for production after eight months of construction. 

Saint-Gobain Hanglass Sekurit (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., Tesla's glass supplier, revealed that it will start producing glass for the locally-manufactured Tesla model in large volumes from October 14, so as to meet the needs of the Gigafactory 3.

National Business Daily noticed that Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in a Twitter message on Wednesday that his company is building a major engineering team in China, including heavy focus on software/firmware for factory and car.

On September 2, the company released a post via its WeChat official account saying that it will recruit talents for eight technical positions such as body structure engineers and exterior design engineers.

All these efforts are made to gear up for localization of the Model 3 in the Chinese market. Musk mentioned the Shanghai plant will have a weekly production capacity of 1,000-2,000 units by the end of 2019, which will expand to 3,000 vehicles in the future.

Supported by the upcoming mass production of the Model 3 in China and increasingly broadened sales channels in the domestic market, Tesla will soon announce a "surprising" price for the Chinese-made Model 3, automotive analyst Sun Shaojun projected, which is believed to pose huge challenges to Chinese electric vehicle firms. 

On May 31, Tesla opened the pre-orders for the Chinese-made Model 3 Standard Range Plus RWD, which then carried a price tag of 328,000 yuan (46,373 U.S. dollars). Many industry insiders held the price will definitely go down when the vehicle come to the market.  

Li Xiang, founder of Lixiang Automotive, predicted in March on social platform Weibo that according to the exchange rate at that time, the locally-produced Model 3 will be sold at 250,000-270,000 yuan before subsidies.

Sun held if it is the case, Tesla will undoubtedly place great pressure on those making electric cars priced above 200,000 yuan.

Email: lansuying@nbd.com.cn