A Tesla Model S car at its showroom in Beijing, China. The US firm has registered a new company in the world's biggest car market. Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters
A Tesla Model S car at its showroom in Beijing, China. The US firm has registered a new company in the world's biggest car market. Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters

Tesla creates new car firm in China



Tesla has registered a new electric car firm in Shanghai, as China prepares to scrap rules on capping foreign ownership of new-energy vehicle (NEV) ventures.

The new company, Tesla (Shanghai), was registered on May 10, according to a filing with the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System seen by Reuters.

The new company will focus on electric cars, spare parts and batteries, according to the filing.

The US car maker has been in protracted negotiations to set up its own plant in Shanghai to produce vehicles locally, helping bolster its position in the country's fast-growing market for electric cars and to avoid high import tariffs.

It was not clear if the new firm was related to the anticipated Shanghai plant.

"We don't have anything new to add on this registration for now," a Tesla spokeswoman said on Monday.

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The new company, registered in south-east Shanghai within the city's free-trade zone area, lists Tesla China head Zhu Xiaotong as its legal representative and Tesla Motors HK Limited as the sole shareholder in the firm.

Tesla currently imports all the cars it sells in China from the United States. It has other wholly-owned firms registered in China focused on sales and research and development.

China has said it will scrap limits on foreign ownership of NEV ventures this year and all automotive ventures by 2022, a major policy shift in the world's top car market that has capped foreign ownership at 50 per cent for over two decades.

US firms have also been caught up in the crossfire of a bruising trade dispute between the two countries, although there are signs of a thaw in relations ahead of a second round of trade talks in Washington later this week.

Analysts have said the main beneficiaries of looser ownership rules would be NEV makers like Tesla, which has been keen to maintain control of its own plant and protect its technology rather than cede a 50 per cent share.

Tesla boss Elon Musk has previously criticised China's tough auto rules for foreign businesses, saying they created an uneven playing field.

However, earlier this month he said the firm could soon unveil the location of a Chinese gigafactory.

About Seez

Company name/date started: Seez, set up in September 2015 and the app was released in August 2017  

Founder/CEO name(s): Tarek Kabrit, co-founder and chief executive, and Andrew Kabrit, co-founder and chief operating officer

Based in: Dubai, with operations also in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon 

Sector:  Search engine for car buying, selling and leasing

Size: (employees/revenue): 11; undisclosed

Stage of funding: $1.8 million in seed funding; followed by another $1.5m bridge round - in the process of closing Series A 

Investors: Wamda Capital, B&Y and Phoenician Funds 

While you're here
The rules on fostering in the UAE

A foster couple or family must:

  • be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
  • not be younger than 25 years old
  • not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
  • be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
  • have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
  • undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
  • A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
NO OTHER LAND

Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal

Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham

Rating: 3.5/5

Where to buy art books in the UAE

There are a number of speciality art bookshops in the UAE.

In Dubai, The Lighthouse at Dubai Design District has a wonderfully curated selection of art and design books. Alserkal Avenue runs a pop-up shop at their A4 space, and host the art-book fair Fully Booked during Art Week in March. The Third Line, also in Alserkal Avenue, has a strong book-publishing arm and sells copies at its gallery. Kinokuniya, at Dubai Mall, has some good offerings within its broad selection, and you never know what you will find at the House of Prose in Jumeirah. Finally, all of Gulf Photo Plus’s photo books are available for sale at their show. 

In Abu Dhabi, Louvre Abu Dhabi has a beautiful selection of catalogues and art books, and Magrudy’s – across the Emirates, but particularly at their NYU Abu Dhabi site – has a great selection in art, fiction and cultural theory.

In Sharjah, the Sharjah Art Museum sells catalogues and art books at its museum shop, and the Sharjah Art Foundation has a bookshop that offers reads on art, theory and cultural history.

Small Victories: The True Story of Faith No More by Adrian Harte
Jawbone Press

Ad Astra

Director: James Gray

Stars: Brad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones

Five out of five stars 

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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe

Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010

Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille

Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm

Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year

Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”

Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners

TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013 

A MINECRAFT MOVIE

Director: Jared Hess

Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa

Rating: 3/5