Tesla Inc.’s Shanghai factory will start production by the end of this year with capacity to build 3,000 vehicles per week gradually, said Ma Chunlei, director of the city's development and reform commission, at a press conference on Tuesday.

Given the time frame, Tesla is expected to deliver Shanghai-made Model 3 cars to Chinese customers at the end of this year or the beginning of next year, Ma said.

Tesla’s $5 billion production complex in Lingang, which broke ground in early January, is not only the company’s first manufacturing plant outside the U.S. but also the first EV project wholly owned by a foreign company under China’s new regulations for the industry.

The California-based company currently imports all vehicles from the U.S. to China. Local production in the country aims to speed up deliveries and improve Tesla’s capital efficiency in the world’s largest auto market, said the company’s CEO Elon Musk earlier this year.

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