Tesla expands insurance business to China: Reports
Tesla CFO Kirkhorn said the insurance offering could expand to a “handful of states” outside of California by year's end
Tesla is eyeing an international expansion of the fledging insurance business it first launched in 2019, according to multiple reports this month.
The electric car maker opened a new branch of “Tesla Insurance” in China, Electrek and several other outlets reported. The brokerage is based in Shanghai, home to Tesla’s Gigafactory 3.
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Further details on the initiative aren’t yet known. Tesla representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Tesla first unveiled its insurance business in Aug. 2019. At the time, the company pledged insurance premiums as much as 30 percent lower than competitors.
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Tesla executives provided an update on the company’s aspirations during its second-quarter earnings call last month. Tesla CEO Musk noted that Tesla was in the process of building a “major insurance company” using data gleaned from the experiences of its drivers.
Tesla CFO Zachary Kirkhorn said the insurance offering could expand to a “handful of states” outside of California by the end of the year.
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"Ultimately, where we want to get to with Tesla Insurance is to be able to use the data that's captured in the car, in the driving profile of the person in the car, to be able to assess correlations and probabilities of crash and be able then to assess a premium on a monthly basis for that customer,” Kirkhorn said.
Tesla shares have surged in recent months as the electric car maker maintained sales and profitability during the coronavirus pandemic. The company announced a five-for-one stock split earlier this month to make its shares more accessible to individual investors.
Musk’s net worth surpassed $85 billion as of this week, according to Forbes.
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