Tesla ships first electric cars overseas since lockdown halted Shanghai production, as domestic sales dwindle to a trickle

Tesla’s Shanghai factory has sent its first shipment overseas since it resumed production on April 19 after a 22-day hiatus, as the US carmaker tries to make up lost ground against Chinese rivals who jumped ahead during lockdown.

Some 4,767 electric cars built at the Gigafactory 3 left Yangshan Deep-Water Port on Wednesday, bound for the port of Koper in Slovenia, according to Jiefang Daily. The state-owned newspaper cited data from local customs authorities.

The outbound shipment was sent after Tesla, the runaway leader in China’s premium electric vehicle (EV) segment, delivered just 1,512 units to mainland Chinese customers in April – 960 Model Ys and 552 Model 3s.

Giga Shanghai will send another shipment of 4,100 EVs abroad on Friday, Jiefang Daily cited customs officials as saying. The volume of exports is on the high side, suggesting Tesla may be attempting to compensate for the recent slump in domestic deliveries and production levels.

“The role of the Shanghai plant as Tesla’s export hub will remain, although a production halt caused it to lose about 50,000 units in production,” said Phate Zhang, founder of Shanghai-based technology portal CnEVpost. “When production returns to normal after a lifting of lockdown in Shanghai, thousands of Model 3 and Model Y vehicles will be exported each month.”