New COVID-19 lockdowns have hit China hard, especially in the Shanghai area, where Tesla operates its Tesla Giga Shanghai plant.
The company had to halt production on March 28, which has prolonged for about three weeks. The production later resumed, but only on a limited scale, and according to the latest Reuters' report from today, the plant was halted again due to a parts supply issue:
"Tesla Inc has halted most of its production at its Shanghai plant due to problems securing parts for its electric vehicles, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters, the latest in a series of difficulties for the factory."
As a result, Tesla's overall sales/export of Made-in-China (MIC) Model 3/Model Y collapsed in April and May might be significantly impacted as well.
The total Tesla volume (sales and export) - according to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA)'s data - amounted to just 1,512 units, which is 94% less than a year ago.
* CPCA reports wholesale shipments, not registrations/customer deliveries.
It's the worst result since the official launch of the plant in January 2020, when we saw reports of about 2,620 units. For reference, in March the company was able to exceed 68,000 units.
According to the data, production of the MIC Model 3/Model Y in April amounted to 10,757. It means that, in the April-May period, Tesla potentially might lose a total of 100,000+ sales due to the disrupted Shanghai plant.
According to the CPCA, Tesla's cumulative wholesale volume from the Tesla Gigafactory 3 as of the end of April is close to 800,000, including over 560,000 in the past 12 months.
On the positive side, over 183,000 units were shipped during the first four months of 2022, compared to 95,000 a year ago.
Sales in China
The report indicates that last month, local sales in China amounted to 1,512 (down 87% year-over-year).
It's the lowest monthly result so far. Tesla sold in China almost 110,000 MIC Model 3/Model Y during the first four months of 2022, compared to almost 81,000 a year ago.
Tesla MIC sales in China are usually the highest in the final month of a quarter.
Cumulatively, Tesla MIC sales in China exceeded 560,000 units.
Export
According to the report, last month 0 Tesla MIC cars were exported. That's a very significant indicator of the upcoming low Tesla sales results in Q2 in Europe (the biggest export market), as the plant in Berlin is just ramping up.
Tesla usually exports the highest number of cars in the first month of a quarter, and then a substantial number of cars also in the second month of a quarter.
CPCA data suggests that over 210,000 Tesla MIC cars were exported in the recent 12 months. Mostly to Europe, we guess.
Models
Tesla offers two MIC models - Model 3 and Model Y (both in various versions). Data for individual models, for the past month, are not yet available.
