Tesla extends production halt at Shanghai plant as Covid outbreak persists

Electric vehicle giant Tesla has extended the production suspension at its Shanghai factory by at least a day amid uncertainty over the city’s pandemic lockdown and ongoing Covid-19 outbreak, Bloomberg reported, citing sources. The suspension of production that started on Monday when the city went into a phased lockdown, will run through at least Friday.

Earlier, production at the Shanghai Gigafactory was to resume on Friday, when the first phase of the lockdown was supposed to end. However, now, with uncertainty over the lockdown situation in the city, the halt has been extended by a day. Tesla has asked all employees to stay at home and abide by community orders, except for workers on emergency duty. The decision has been taken “in accordance to the latest Covid prevention requirements of the Shanghai government", as per a company memo.

Tesla's Shanghai Gigafcatory is its first facility outside the home country, and it produced half of the electric carmaker’s vehicles last year. The factory had to suspend production for two days earlier this month as well. The company said at the time that it was making its “best effort" to ensure production could continue at the plant, while “actively cooperating with the government’s order for Covid tests and relevant pandemic prevention measures", the report stated.

The Shanghai factory is crucial for Tesla, considering 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 earlier this month reported that Tesla delivered 56,515 cars from the factory in February alone - 23,200 for the domestic market and 33,315 for export.

Tesla now has plants on three continents - North America, the original factory in California; Shanghai; and in Europe, where Musk last week handed over the first made-in-Germany Model Y vehicles to customers.