Tesla Discloses Shanghai Production Plan for Spring Festival
Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory will reportedly continue producing vehicles for 17 days from January 3-19, then suspend production from January 20-31, longer than China’s national Spring Festival holiday from January 21-27, a report by Reuters showed.
However, regarding the matter, Tesla said, “The information is not accurate. In fact, most employees at the Shanghai Gigafactory will have a holiday from January 20 to 28, which will be one day longer than before and after the statutory holiday, so that everyone can flexibly arrange the time for returning home. Some employees have spent the holidays in the city they work in the past two years. During the holiday, some workshops still need to continue to run at high speed, and we have made proper preparations.”
Recently, Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory has been frequently rumored to stop or reduce production. Earlier, Reuters reported that Tesla had suspended production at its Shanghai factory on December 24, which led to the suspension of most of the scheduling plans in the last week of December. Tesla responded by saying, “The factory maintained efficient production in 2022. In the last week of December, we will carry out the annual production line maintenance work as planned. The workshops, such as charging piles, have not stopped operation, so the rumored production suspension is not completely accurate.”
Gao Chao, a researcher at the China Autonomous Driving Industry Innovation Alliance, told domestic media outlet Securities Daily that it is not a routine practice for Tesla to suspend production at the end of the year. Some car companies, such as General Motors and Ford, stopped production at the end of the year. But at the end of December last year, Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory was in normal operation.
For Tesla, China represents not only the largest automobile export center in the world, but also another major market besides the US. Tesla China delivered more than 100,000 vehicles in November, an increase of about 40% month-on-month and 89% year-on-year. By the end of November, the Shanghai Gigafactory had delivered more than 650,000 vehicles this year. At present, the factory has formed a whole ecological chain of new energy auto parts such as batteries, chips, automatic driving systems, auto interiors and precision machining in the Yangtze River Delta.
Tesla has launched two rounds of price reduction in the past two months in China. However, its order increment is still less than expected. According to the report of Securities Daily, it is generally believed in the industry that Tesla China has not established a complete market research team to provide timely and effective coping strategies for decision-makers and front-line sales. In addition, a Model Y accident in Guangdong in early November, resulting in two deaths and three injuries, caused great controversy and had a negative impact both within China and abroad.
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Tesla’s share price has dropped by nearly 70% this year, as the market is worried about weak demand for electric vehicles, and Elon Musk is busy running Twitter. Musk said on December 28 that employees should not be “bothered by stock market craziness.” He said he believes that in the long term, Tesla will be the most valuable company on earth.
