Tesla operates four electric car factories around the world—in California, China, Texas and Germany. However, one of them is crucial from the volume perspective: Tesla Giga Shanghai in China.
As it turns out, the factory in Shanghai consistently produced more than half of all Tesla electric cars in the last few years.
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Tesla's EV production recently decreased
In the first quarter of 2024, Tesla produced globally 433,371 electric vehicles, 2% less than a year ago. The wholesale volume in Shanghai amounted to over 220,000, also down almost 4% year-over-year.
Tesla reports only global production data without sharing details related to particular plants. However, we can compare the numbers with the China Passenger Car Association's data on wholesale vehicle shipments (local retail sales in China and exports).
For example, in Q1 2024, Tesla produced globally 433,371 EVs, while the Giga Shanghai's volume amounted to 220,876. That's 51% of the global result.
Shanghai's contribution appears to be stable at around 51% over the past seven quarters. There was a dip in Q2 2022 at 43.5% (probably due to some late lockdown/plant upgrades at the time), preceded by a 60% share.
Tesla's Global EV Production—Q1 2024
This all indicates the true value of the Tesla Giga Shanghai, which produces the Model 3 and Model Y for the Chinese market and exports (Asia, Australia, Europe, Canada and, other markets). Both high-volume and high cost-efficiency are important here.
The construction of the factory started in January 2019 and progressed at a pace and scale unheard of in the EV industry. The first customer deliveries of Made-in-China (MIC) Model 3 happened on December 30, 2019—within one year. The factory was then expanded to produce the Model Y, which entered the market on January 18, 2021.
Now, Giga Shanghai is the world's largest electric car factory with a manufacturing capacity exceeding 950,000, according to Tesla's official table in the Q4 2023 report. Cumulative production through the end of Q1 2024 amounted to about 2.5 million units. For reference, Tesla's total EV production amounted to 6 million units.
The position of the Tesla Giga Shanghai might remain very strong in the next couple of years as the factory in Germany is not expanding as fast, while the new factory in Texas appears to be more focused on ramping up the Cybertruck.
