(ECNS) -- Shanghai Lingang Holdings issued an announcement Thursday night, saying it had never contacted Tesla after the U.S. electric car maker reportedly signed a preliminary agreement to build a manufacturing facility in Shanghai.
Lingang Holdings, controlled by China's leading industrial park developer Shanghai Lingang Economic Development (Group), said it has no cooperation plan to explore production with Tesla in China.
The Shanghai-listed company also said it made the statement in order to be responsible for all its stakeholders and that it has no significant undisclosed issues.
Several media outlets reported that Tesla was in exploratory talks with Shanghai to explore production. After Tesla's CEO Elon Musk suggested a possible production in China in 2016, Chinese cities including Suzhou, Shanghai and Shenzhen were also speculated to host the manufacturing facility.
Reaching a deal to produce cars in China would help Tesla better compete with local rivals because it would eliminate a 25 percent import tariff.
