A senior Tesla executive in China said on Wednesday that the U.S. electric vehicle maker does not exclude suppliers based on their country of origin, underscoring the role of Chinese companies in Tesla’s global supply chain. The comments came after a media report this month said Tesla had asked suppliers to avoid China-made components for vehicles produced in the United States.
“Whether in the United States, China or Europe, Tesla applies the same strict and objective standards for selecting suppliers across its global production facilities,” said Grace Tao, Tesla’s vice president in charge of government affairs and public relations in China, in a post on Chinese social media platform Weibo.
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“The country of origin or geographical source of the supplier does not constitute an exclusionary criterion,” she added. Tao did not directly reference the Wall Street Journal report that prompted the reaction.
Tao said Tesla’s Shanghai factory has achieved the company’s lowest global vehicle prices for consumers in China with the support of more than 400 domestic suppliers, adding that more than 60 of those companies also supply Tesla’s operations worldwide.
Tesla has previously said that more than 95% of the components used in China-made Model 3 vehicles and the refreshed Model Y are sourced locally. In China, the Model 3 starts from 235,500 yuan ($33,250), compared with $36,990 in the United States.
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The comments come against a backdrop of growing geopolitical tension affecting global automotive supply chains. U.S. automaker General Motors told several thousand suppliers to remove China-sourced parts from their supply chains, Reuters reported in November, reflecting wider industry concerns over operational risks linked to trade and political disruptions.