Tsuga Ichihiro stated at the performance briefing that 'Tesla may start full production in China in the future and we may co-produce the battery.' This is the first time the company formally admitted that it may manufacture batteries for Tesla in China.
Panasonic currently manufactures batteries for Tesla at its Gigafactory facilities in Japan and Nevada. Tesla uses these batteries to make batteries.
Panasonic announced in March this year that its factory in Dalian, China, has also begun mass production of lithium-ion batteries for vehicles.
As a supplier of Tesla batteries, Panasonic is increasing its investment to become a leading auto parts manufacturer, thereby escaping the fierce price competition of smart phones and other consumer electronics products with lower profitability.
Panasonic plans to nearly double its auto business revenue to 2.5 trillion yen by the fiscal year ending in March 2022, while auto battery business is the key driver of this plan.
Matsushita said that in the fiscal year ending in March 2019, its battery sales will drive operating profit to increase by 11.7% to 425 billion yen (about US$3.87 billion).