Tesla Model S

Tesla's founder, Elon Musk, has confirmed that the company has reached an agreement with the Chinese authorities to build an Shanghai electric vehicle plant.

"The Chinese plant is about to start production in about three years and will serve the Chinese market and perhaps some other countries in the region. The intention is to produce Model 3, "Musk said.

Tesla on April 3 became the second-largest US car maker in terms of market capitalization, displacing Ford, whose sales lagged amid concerns about the ability of the US market to keep growing.

Panasonic Corp and Tesla Motors said on Dec. 27 they have agreed to start production of photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules at a factory in Buffalo, New York, as reported by Reuters. 

In a joint statement, the two companies said they plan to start production of PV modules in the summer of 2017 and increase to one gigawatt of module production by 2019.

Tesla is speeding the timeline for building half a million cars annually as it steps up production to meet growing demand for its electric vehicles.