Tesla to Suspend Production at Shanghai Plant Amid Covid Restrictions

Tesla plans to stop production at its Shanghai plant for at least one day starting Monday as local authorities intensify restrictions on normal operations in response to a surge in COVID-19 cases across the city, Bloomberg reported on Sunday, citing individuals familiar with the matter.

On March 16 and 17, the plant had suspended production for two days due to the worsening local outbreak. Tesla said at that time that it would actively cooperate with the government’s pandemic prevention requirements, such as nucleic acid testing, while also doing its utmost to ensure continued production. On March 18, the plant resumed production with a two-shift system starting from 7:00 a.m.

50 confirmed symptomatic cases and 3,450 asymptomatic cases were reported in Shanghai on Sunday. The two halves of the urban economic powerhouse will be locked down in turn throughout the next week, during which time public health workers will conduct a mass testing blitz in a bid to combat the outbreak. Areas east of the Huangpu River, where the Tesla plant is located, will be locked down starting Monday for four days.

The Shanghai factory is crucial for Tesla, considering that China is the company’s second-largest market and the plant builds cars for export to Europe and elsewhere in Asia. The China Passenger Car Association reported earlier this month that Tesla delivered 56,515 cars from the factory in February alone – 23,200 for the domestic market and 33,315 for export.

SEE ALSO: Tesla Shuts down Shanghai Gigafactory for Two Days amid COVID-19

Tesla now has automobile production facilities on three continents – North America, Asia and Europe, where Elon Musk last week handed over the first made-in-Germany Model Y vehicles at a new factory outside Berlin. In a few weeks, Tesla will celebrate the opening of a fourth auto factory in Austin, Texas.