Tesla has shut down most of its production at its Shanghai plant due to problems securing parts for its electric vehicles, according to an inside note seen by Reuters, the latest in a series of difficulties for the factory.
The plant plans to produce fewer than 200 vehicles on Tuesday, according to the note, far fewer than the approximately 1,200 units it builds each day, shortly after reopening on April 19 after a 22-day closure.
Earlier, two sources familiar with the matter said supply problems had forced the factory to shut down production on Monday. Shanghai is in its sixth week of the growing blockade of Covid-19, which is testing the ability of manufacturers to operate amid tight restrictions on the movement of people and materials.
Tesla planned last week to increase production to pre-block levels by next week. It was unclear when current supply problems would be resolved, sources said, asking not to be identified because production plans are private. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Chinese Automobile Association is expected to announce sales in April to Tesla, China’s second-largest electric car maker after BYD on Tuesday. Another automotive association said last week that it had estimated total sales in China to fall 48 percent in April as Covid’s zero-restriction blockade closed factories, limited traffic to showrooms and put a brake on spending.
Aptiv, Tesla’s main supplier of wiring harnesses, has suspended deliveries from a plant in Shanghai that supplies Tesla and General Motors after Covid-19 infections were found among its workers, two acquaintances told Reuters.
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Tesla’s Shanghai plant, also known as Gigafactory 3, produces the Model 3 sedan and Model Y crossover for the Chinese market and for export. Tesla partially resumed production at the Shanghai plant on April 19 after a 22-day shutdown caused by the blocking of Covid-19 in the city.
Tesla aimed to increase production at its Shanghai plant to 2,600 cars a day from May 16, Reuters reported earlier.
Authorities in Shanghai have tightened a city-wide blockade imposed more than a month ago on a shopping center with a population of 25 million, a move that could extend traffic restrictions during the month.
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