U.S. car manufacturer Tesla has established a data center in China to store its car data locally, the company announced Tuesday, amid growing scrutiny over how the company handles user data.

Tesla said in a post on Weibo, a Chinese social media platform similar to Twitter, that data generated by the cars it sells in China, where it is making Model 3 sedans and Model Y sport-utility vehicles, would be stored in the country.

In the future, owners of Tesla vehicles will be able to access a platform to query vehicle data, as part of a bid to standardize data management and ensure data safety, according to the company.

Last week, the company's Vice President Grace Tao, along with executives at Baidu and Alibaba, attended a policy discussion held by a Chinese think tank on data security.

China, the world's biggest car market and the second largest for Tesla, is drafting rules to ensure the security of data generated by connected vehicles as their growing popularity fuels concerns about privacy and national security.

(With input from agencies)