Tesla allegedly cuts production in Giga Shanghai

Tesla has reportedly reduced production at its plant in China because sales of electric cars are growing slowly and competition in the world's largest car market is very intense.

Citing insiders, Bloomberg reports that Tesla has only been producing its Model 3 and Model Y at the Shanghai plant five days a week since the beginning of March instead of the previous 6.5 days. According to the insiders, who are apparently employed at Giga Shanghai, Tesla is said to have already implemented the measure at the beginning of the month. For the rest of the time, the production lines will run in two shifts of 11.5 hours each. According to the sources, no clear indication has yet been given as to when production will resume at full capacity.

In other words, instead of a possible 13 shifts, Tesla will probably only operate ten, if the information is correct. That would be around 23 per cent less.

Tesla did not respond to a Bloomberg request for comment on the information. On the stock market, however, Tesla shares fell by 3.9 per cent before the start of regular trading.

Tesla is obviously feeling the competition from BYD and Co. on the Chinese market – BYD in particular has been able to make significant gains in recent years and widen the gap to Tesla. And for the important Model Y, the market in Europe is now served from Giga Berlin – although all drive variants of the Model 3 Highland for Europe come from China.

Around a year ago, there were reports that Tesla wanted to increase production in Shanghai to 20,000 vehicles per week – due to strong demand. The annual report for 2023 also mentioned “>950,000 units” for Giga Shanghai, whereas Tesla had previously stated 750,000 vehicles per year for the plant.

bnnbloomberg.ca