Tesla Giga Shanghai will be disrupted once again as the company upgrades its production lines to produce a revamped version of the Model 3 sedan for the Chinese market. According to Bloomberg, some workers at the plant’s first phase of car manufacturing will not be allowed on the line starting from as early as Sunday while improvements are made. The production halt will last until the end of February.
Tesla has been upgrading the production line in stages over the past two months, and deliveries of the new Model 3 are expected to start later this year. Giga Shanghai is Tesla’s largest plant in the world, with an annual capacity of about 1.1 million vehicles. The plant produces the Model 3 sedan and the Model Y crossover.
Tesla sold 66,051 China-made vehicles in January, including exports of 39,208 units, according to data released by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA). In January, the company delivered 26,843 vehicles in China, including 12,659 Model 3s and 14,184 Model Ys.
See also: Tesla readies revamped Model 3 with codenamed “Project Highland”
The expected delivery dates for the two versions of the Model 3 offered in China are 1-4 weeks, according to Tesla’s China website. Model Y sales have surpassed Model 3 sales in China, with 315,314 Model Y units delivered in 2022, up 85.64% from 169,853 units in 2021, compared to 124,456 Model 3 units sold in China in 2022, down 17.52% from 150,890 units in 2021, according to data from the CPCA.
Reuters reported in December that Tesla will stop production of electric vehicles from January 20 to January 31 to allow for an extended break during the Chinese New Year holiday, but did not specify the reason for the production slowdown in its output plan. However, a local media outlet later quoted a Tesla China source as saying that the extended break was intended to allow most employees at Giga Shanghai to be on vacation from January 20-28, two days longer than the legal holiday.
