THE TESLA factory in Shanghai, China has halted production over supply chain issues.
This particular Tesla factory has proved repeatedly problematic for Elon Musk and his electric car company.
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Musk has built Tesla up to be one of the most respected names in electric cars and battery technologies.
The sleek vehicles tout a quiet engine, self driving capabilities and an estimated $800 to $1,000 in savings from cutting out gasoline – likely even more given the spike in gas prices.
Reuters reporters got eyes on an internal memo that said the Shanghai Tesla plant cannot get parts to assemble the vehicles.
COVID-19 lockdowns and related supply chain shortages have stunted Tesla production in China.
Tesla’s output and sales sharply declined in China through April.
The internal memo caught by Reuters said the company was planning on manufacturing just 200 vehicles on Tuesday.
Tesla had been churning out 1,200 cars per day when production was at full-go last month – now, the target number of 2,600 cars produced per day is all but a lost cause.
Meanwhile, sales of Teslas in China dropped by 98% from March to April, according to the China Passenger Car Association.
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Tesla production in China was a quiet but valid criticism of Musk’s bid to buy Twitter.
Melissa Chan, a reporter at the Washington Post, wrote “Elon Musk has a Tesla factory in China and he wants to sell more cars there, as many China observers note,” on Twitter.
“What happens if Beijing leans on him about say, a Uyghur or Hong Kong activist account? Or about Chinese disinformation bots leveraging this platform?” she wrote.
“Put another way, China is not the SEC. Elon Musk can’t give Beijing the middle finger as easily as he does a US federal agency,” Chan’s thread continued.
While owning a Tesla has become somewhat of a status symbol, the vehicles have been taken off the road for a variety of reasons.
The company recalled almost 600,000 vehicles at the top of 2022 because the cars are so quiet pedestrians cannot not hear it approaching.
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