China-made Tesla Model 3 vehicles are seen during a delivery event at the automaker’s plant in Shanghai, China, 7 January 2020. REUTERS/Aly Song
SHANGHAI, April 15 – Tesla (TSLA.O) is preparing to resume production at its Shanghai plant on Monday after a three-week hiatus after receiving the green light from local authorities, two people familiar with the matter said Persons.
The Shanghai factory, located in the Pudong district east of the city’s Huangpu River, halted production on March 28 after the city began implementing lockdown measures to combat a surge in COVID-19 cases , which were later introduced across the city.
The plan to restart production has the blessing of local authorities but could still change depending on how the epidemic situation develops in the city, said the people, who declined to be named because the matter is private .
One of them said the US automaker plans to start with one shift and gradually ramp it up.
Tesla and the Shanghai government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The latest shutdown was the longest since production began at the plant in late 2019 and has resulted in a production loss of more than 50,000 units, according to calculations based on Reuters internal production schedules.
However, ongoing production at the plant could be hampered by difficulties in sourcing auto parts as logistics in the city and surrounding areas have been severely impacted by China’s COVID restrictions.
He Xiaopeng, chief executive officer of Chinese electric car maker Xpeng (9868.HK), said Thursday that automakers in China may have to shut down production in May if suppliers in and around Shanghai fail to resume work. Continue reading
Reporting by Zhang Yan and Brenda Goh; Edited by Kirsten Donovan