Amid the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown throughout the Chinese city of Shanghai, it is reported that Tesla has restored the weekly output of its giga plant to nearly 70 percent of the pre-lockdown levels. The is likely to improve further in the coming weeks, and plant may achieve full capacity in the month of June.
As per Reuters' unofficial sources, Tesla has added a second shift in the plant in mid- last week. Ramping up production has been a big challenge to the company, since the plant's reopening on April 19, after an abrupt closure for about 22 days.
One month since the reopening, the plant's production as of May 19 stood at 26,000 units of Tesla Model 3 and Model Y electric cars, amounting for about 50 percent of the pre-lockdown levels.
With the production being ramped up in full swing, industry observers note that Tesla may not find any big challenge in posting strong year-on-year growth of global production in FY 2022 and global sales in Q2 of this year.
However, there might be a drop of some 50,000-100,000 units in the cumulative production figures for the brand, as against a business-as-usual scenario. The Giga Shanghai rolls out Model 3 and Model Y cars for both Chinese domestic market sales and European exports.
Experts opine that a quick revival of production at the Chinese facility is crucial for the automaker's sales in Europe, as the company's Berlin-Brandenburg giga factory has just become operational and yet to ramp up production.
As per Chinese media reports, Tesla has achieved a localization level of about 95 percent at its Shanghai plant, after over two years since the commencement of production. This is also the first facility to roll out Tesla standard-range variants equipped with LFP battery packs.
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