Tesla's biggest step abroad, plans China plant to make 500,000 cars a year

Tesla has built about 88,000 cars through the first half of this year

Tesla has reached a preliminary agreement with the Shanghai government to build a factory that’ll rival production from its lone US assembly plant, as Elon Musk takes his biggest step yet to expand overseas.

The electric-car maker’s planned capacity for the factory is 500,000 vehicles a year, the Shanghai government said in statement. Bloomberg reported earlier that Musk, Tesla’s chief executive officer, would be in the city for an event with the government on Tuesday. A Tesla representative in China didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.