Tesla defends China presence as key to goal of making 20m cars yearly

Tesla chairman Robyn Denholm has defended the US electric carmaker's focus on China and plans to expand further there, saying that reaching a goal of making 20 million vehicles a year by 2030 will require manufacturing capabilities on every continent.

"We're building factories around the world," said Ms Denholm after an address to the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday.

"Our view is the world is going to electric vehicles (EVS) and to batteries that are lithium-ion based, and we need to be in all of the major markets around the world." Tesla recently opened factories in Berlin and Texas, on top of plants in Shanghai and California.

The EV maker's China operations are back in full swing after a production-line upgrade and the city's Covid-19 lockdown earlier this year slowed production.

Tesla delivered 76,965 Chinese-made vehicles last month, just shy of June's record 78,906.