Tesla states it plans to open China design and research center

U.S. electric automaker Tesla prepares to open a design and research center in China to make “Chinese-style” vehicles, the company stated in a recruitment notice on its official WeChat account.

Wednesday’s notice sought to recruit designers and other workers to help meet the goal, and called for applications by February 1, but did not mention the center’s location.

“In order to achieve a shift of ‘Made in China’ to ‘Designed in China’, Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk has proposed a very cool thing – set up a design and research center in China,” it read. Although it was not clear right when the center would start operations.

Tesla’s first factory outside the United States is located in the eastern city of Shanghai, and it started to make deliveries of China-made Model 3 vehicles this month.

Last week, Musk released a Model Y electric sports utility vehicle program at the $2 billion factory. Tesla’s stock market value hit almost $89 billion in that week, eclipsing the number of General Motors’ and Ford’s values for the first time ever.

The stock move was fueled by a shocking third-quarter profit, progress at the new China factory and better-than-expected fourth-quarter deliveries.