On Sunday (April 28th), Tesla CEO Elon Musk unexpectedly visited China, and insiders revealed that the visit may be related to Tesla's launch of Fully Autonomous Driving (FSD) in China. According to Wall Street analysts, Musk's visit to China is a crucial moment for Tesla.
Premier Li Qiang met with Elon Musk on Sunday afternoon. Musk told the Premier that Tesla is willing to further deepen cooperation with China and achieve more win-win results.
FSD is a critical turning point
As Tesla's core electric vehicle business slows down sales under economic uncertainty, the company now hopes to rely on the high profits brought by promoting its FSD software suite. At present, the FSD project has completed beta testing and is being promoted in a regulated form in North America.
Musk stated during Tesla's Q1 earnings conference call this month that he is seeking to release FSD in other markets.
He pointed out, "After obtaining regulatory approval, we plan to release it as a regulated autonomous system in any market where we can obtain regulatory approval, which we believe includes China."
As Chinese domestic electric vehicle manufacturers such as Xiaopeng and Huawei promote their advanced driving assistance systems as selling points, Tesla's launch of FSD in China may bring them advantages.
Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives predicts that the focus of Musk's visit to China will be to bring the long-awaited FSD software to fruition.
The analyst referred to this visit as Tesla's "watershed moment" and pointed out that "Tesla's long-term valuation story depends on FSD and automation, and a key missing part of this story is Tesla's ability to provide FSD in China, and the opportunity is right now."
He added that this visit is of great significance for Tesla to further strengthen their electric vehicle business in the Chinese market at a critical moment.
Ives pointed out, "Although Tesla faces demand challenges in China, Wall Street is looking for Tesla's long-term growth story, and FSD is a key factor in success."
The analyst maintains a "outperforming" rating and a target price of $275 for the stock. As of last Friday, Tesla's stock price closed at $168.29 per share.
By the way, Musk was originally scheduled to visit India last Monday and meet with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to announce Tesla's plans in India. However, the billionaire cancelled the visit in the last hour, citing "Tesla affairs".