China approves sales of Shanghai-made Tesla Model Y

SHANGHAI — Tesla has obtained permission to start selling its Shanghai-made Model Y SUV in China.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology published the approval on its website on Monday.

Tesla sells its locally built Model 3 electric cars in China and has been expanding the Shanghai plant where they are manufactured to start making the Model Y, which reports say will start production early next year. The automaker applied for permission to sell the Model Y earlier this month.

The automaker started delivering Model 3 vehicles made in its Shanghai factory last December and sold more than 13,000 vehicles in China in October.

The company has started exporting the Model 3 from China to Europe and said last week it plans to also start making EV chargers in China in 2021.