Production in Shanghai was originally scheduled to resume on Monday April 4, but the production lines at the Tesla factory remain at a standstill. Tesla is waiting for the end of the city’s confinements to resume its activity.
China continues to enforce strict lockdowns in the event of an upsurge in Covid cases. This is how the 26 million inhabitants of Shanghai found themselves confined to their homes in two successive waves. The production of the Tesla factory should have stopped only 4 days from March 28, according to the initial plans. It’s finally already a week without production that has just passed.
The serious consequences of the shutdown of factories
This extension of total confinement in the megalopolis of Shanghai has serious consequences on the Chinese economy, but also on the world. Many factories, including semiconductors, find themselves affected by these shutdowns. The Tesla factory is just the tip of the iceberg.
Tesla already had to close its factory for 2 days in mid-March after the resurgence of Covid-19 cases. This time, it is 7 days of production, that is to say approximately 6,000 Model 3 and 10,000 Model Y which could not leave the production lines.
A delay that could quickly be felt by customers waiting for an upcoming delivery of one of the models produced in China. This concerns almost all models delivered in France, which may not always be delivered in 2022, with the exception of Model Y Performance.
A first quarter delivery record for Tesla
At the same time, Tesla published its quarterly results on Saturday April 2. The brand announced a record 310,048 vehicle deliveries in the first quarter of 2022, including 295,324 for the combined Model 3 and Model Y alone. Elon Musk, however, described this quarter as “exceptionally” difficult.
Despite the difficulties encountered with supply chain disruptions and the first two-day shutdown of Chinese production, the American brand managed to set this new production record.
The situation of the last few days is not going to get better. And even if Tesla is about to open a new factory in Austin, Texas, and was able to inaugurate the one in Berlin on March 22. It takes time for new factories to adopt production rates that will help meet the high demand for the brand’s models.