Tesla's Shanghai plant production returns to 70% of pre-pandemic levels

Tesla has restored weeklyproductionat its Shanghai factory to nearly 70% of what it was before the coronavirus lockdown, two people familiar with the matter said.

Tesla added a second shift of workers at its Shanghai plant last week, from a single-shift to a double-shift, and is expected to increase production further this week, the people said.Tesla declined to comment on the report.

Image credit: Tesla

Returning production to pre-pandemic levels has been a challenge for Tesla's Shanghai plant.Previously, the factory was temporarily closed for 22 days due to the outbreak.Although the local municipal government has provided a lot of help for Tesla to restart production, Tesla still encountered many obstacles, such as a shortage of workers, and logistics problems affecting the supply of parts, including wiring harnesses, which forced Tesla to repeatedly Postponing plans to restart production and increase production.

Data from the Passenger Federation showed that between the restart on April 19 and the end of April, Tesla’s Shanghai plant produced 10,757 vehicles and sold 1,512 of them, far lower than the 65,754 in March, and the same time since 2020. The lowest sales since April.

It is reported that relevant departments in Shanghai will start to cancel many conditions for enterprises to resume work this Wednesday (June 1).In addition, Shanghai has also introduced a series of policies to vigorously promote automobile consumption, including an increase of 40,000 non-commercial passenger vehicle license plates during the year, and a phased reduction of the purchase tax for some passenger vehicles in accordance with national policy requirements.In addition, before December 31, 2022, individual consumers who scrap or transfer a passenger car registered in Shanghai and meet the relevant standards and purchase a pureelectric vehiclewill be given a financial subsidy of 10,000 yuan per vehicle.The government will also realize the coordinated resumption of work by upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain and supply chain, and steadily increase the production rate of enterprises.

With the support of a series of policies, Tesla's Shanghai factory production is expected to return to normal soon, and is expected to fully return to normal levels next month.