Tesla ships first cars overseas since curbs halted production
Some 4,767 vehicles built in Shanghai left for Slovenia, with 4,100 more to be dispatched today
Electric-car maker Tesla’s Shanghai factory has sent its first shipment overseas since it resumed production on April 19 after a 22-day hiatus, as the US company tries to make up lost ground against Chinese rivals that jumped ahead during lockdown.
Some 4,767 electric cars built at the Gigafactory 3 left the Yangshan Deep-Water Port on Wednesday bound for the port of Koper in Slovenia, according to Jiefang Daily. The state-owned newspaper cited data from local customs authorities.
The outbound shipment was sent after Tesla, the runaway leader in China’s premium electric-vehicle segment, delivered just 1,512 units to domestic customers last month – 960 Model Ys and 552 Model 3s. That was just 2 per cent of its sales in March, before Shanghai went into lockdown, forcing thousands of manufacturers to down tools.
The Gigafactory 3, also known as Giga Shanghai, would send another shipment of 4,100 electric vehicles abroad today, Jiefang Daily said.
The volume of exports is on the high side, suggesting Tesla may be seeking to compensate for the recent slump in domestic deliveries and production levels.
“The role of the Shanghai plant as Tesla’s export hub will remain, although an output halt caused it to lose about 50,000 units in production,” said Phate Zhang, founder of Shanghai-based technology portal CnEVpost.
“When production returns to normal after a lifting of lockdown in Shanghai, thousands of Model 3 and Model Y vehicles will be exported each month.”
Giga Shanghai suspended production between March 28 and April 18 as Shanghai, the epicentre of China’s latest Covid19 outbreak, doubled down on pandemic curbs to prevent the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
The factory restarted production on April 19, three days after the Shanghai government published a “white list” allowing 666 key manufacturers to operate under a so-called closed-loop system, where workers essentially sleep on site to avoid contact with outsiders.
Giga Shanghai churned out 10,757 vehicles last month, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association.
The factory was only able to run a single shift initially because of a shortage of components, which limited production to about 1,000 cars a day – about half the plant’s normal daily output.
Tesla has dominated China’s premium electric-car segment since Giga Shanghai became operational at the end of 2019.
The lockdown in Shanghai benefited Tesla’s three Chinese rivals – XPeng, Nio and Li Auto. Their deliveries beat the United States-based giant for the first time since January 2020 even as their own sales declined.