Temporarily turn off the lights in the main factory
Tesla’s Gigafactory in Shanghai, with a production capacity of 1 million cars per year, has been shut down since Saturday. The factory will not start operating again until after the turn of the year. Tesla is reducing the number of cars to be sold due to the disappointing demand. The wave of contamination is also playing as a result of the sudden lifting of the Chinese zero covidpolicy the car manufacturer.
Earlier this month we reported that Tesla was considering scaling back its Chinese production, and that is now being done rigorously. Reuters news agency writes that Tesla’s Gigafactory in Shanghai – Tesla’s factory with the largest production capacity – has been completely shut down since Saturday, December 24. Reuters previously reported that Tesla would stop production of the Model Y from December 25 to January 1 in Shanghai, but it now appears that the production stop will start a day earlier and that not only the Model Y, but also the Model 3 will be there for a while. not being built.
The main reason for reducing production is the disappointing demand for Teslas. The Chinese production is mainly intended for the market there, but the Americans face stiff competition from the Chinese brands. Demand is also weakening somewhat in the other markets as a result of, among other things, the economic uncertainty. That while Tesla has made great strides in recent years to expand its production capacity.
Contagion wave
According to Reuters’ sources, the focus of Model Y production shifted last week from mainly production for the Chinese market to more production for other markets. The wave of infection that followed after lifting the zero covidpolicy across the country not only causes large-scale labor outages, but also (short-term) decreases in demand for new Teslas in the country. In any case, the shutdown of production has nothing to do with the last week of the year: last year the Tesla factory also continued to operate during this period. The planning is for the time being to resume production of the Model 3 and Model Y on January 2. It is not known whether the focus will be elsewhere than on production for the Chinese market from then on.
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– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl