Elon Musk’s Private Jet Lands in Beijing for Surprise Visit to China’s EV Market

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, made a surprise visit to Beijing, China, as a private jet linked to him landed in the city on Sunday. Musk is reportedly in China to meet with senior officials to discuss the rollout of full-self driving (FSD) software in the country. He is also seeking approval to transfer data collected in China abroad to train algorithms for Tesla’s autonomous driving technologies.

Tesla has been storing all data collected by its Chinese fleet in Shanghai since 2021, as required by Chinese regulators. Despite customer demand, the FSD software has not been made available in China yet. Musk recently hinted that FSD may be available to Chinese customers “very soon.”

Rival Chinese automakers like Xpeng have been rolling out similar autonomous driving software in an attempt to gain an advantage over Tesla. Musk’s visit to China was not publicly announced, and sources spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media. Tesla has not yet responded to requests for comments on Musk’s visit.

The visit comes after Musk canceled a planned trip to India due to “very heavy Tesla obligations.” Tesla recently announced layoffs of 10% of its global workforce as it faces falling sales and increased competition in the EV market.

The Gulfstream private jet with tail number N272BG, registered to Falcon Landing, a company connected to SpaceX and Tesla, landed in Beijing on Sunday. This jet is linked to Musk’s previous visits to China, where he met with government officials and visited Tesla’s Shanghai factory.

Musk’s visit coincides with the Beijing autoshow, where GM CEO Mary Barra also made an unannounced appearance. Tesla does not have a booth at the autoshow this year. Grace Tao, Tesla’s vice president in charge of external relations in China, recently published a commentary on the growth potential of autonomous driving technologies in the EV industry.

Musk has hinted at introducing new, cheaper models using current EV platforms and production lines, as well as unveiling a new “robotaxi” with self-driving technology on August 8. Tesla’s shares have declined this year, raising concerns about the company’s growth trajectory. Last week, Tesla reported its first decline in quarterly revenue since 2020.