Chinese firm takes chunk of Tesla stock

Chinese investment firm Tencent Holding Companies has purchased a five per cent stake in car maker Tesla Inc for $2.5 billion in a bid to enter the lucrative EV and autonomous vehicle market. The purchase makes Tencent the fifth-largest shareholder in the company, behind CEO and founder Elon Musk, who has a 21 per cent stake, and investment companies Fidelity, Baillie Giffold and T. Rowe Price. The investment will be welcome for Tesla, who recently raised almost $1.8 billion to cover the production and launch costs of its entry-level Model 3, which has over half a million pre-orders that will take over a year to deliver. Shares in Tesla rose 2.7 per cent to (US)$277.45 at the news, leaving the car maker poised to overtake Ford as the second-most valuable auto company behind General Motors.    Musk said he was “glad to have Tencent as an investor and advisor to Tesla” on social media, and declined to elaborate further on his statement. He also noted that Tesla had “very few” Model 3 orders from China, suggesting the partnership with Tencent could be a foothold into the Chinese market. The Tesla Model 3 is set to go on sale in New Zealand next year, with the upmarket Model S already on sale.  With the EV market in New Zealand largely comprised of second-hand, entry-level vehicles such as the Nissan Leaf, a market expansion and increased production of the Model 3 could eventually mean a larger market for local vehicle importers. Vehicle imports from China, however, are currently modest.