Elon Musk wins official praise for Tesla during surprise visit to China

HONG KONG: Elon Musk has made a surprise visit to China as he bids to shore up Tesla’s slumping sales and introduce the carmaker’s self-driving technology in its second biggest market in the face of ferocious competition, the US media reported.

His second trip to the country in less than a year included a meeting Sunday with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, who praised Tesla as a “successful model” for US-China collaboration.

The Tesla (TSLA) chief was in town to seek Beijing’s approval for the rollout of Full Self-Driving (FSD) software in China and the transfer of its data overseas, according to a report. Virtually all Teslas have a driver-assistance system called Autopilot, while the more robust FSD feature comes at a premium price. Autopilot is available in China, but not the full FSD feature, which needs to comply with the country’s data security rules.

Musk appeared to have made progress on his goals during the two-day trip, which ended on Monday. On Sunday, the China Association of Auto Manufacturers said in a statement that Tesla’s Model 3 and Y vehicles had passed China’s data security requirements.