Tesla recently suspended production at its Gigafactory in Shanghai, China, Bloomberg reports.
The car manufacturer reportedly informed factory workers that rather than return to work on Wednesday as planned after China’s five-day Labor Day break, their holiday will be extended until at least May 9. This means Tesla isn’t currently building vehicles at all, as its assembly plant in Fremont has been idled since March 23 due to shutdowns introduced in California to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
The reason for the pause in production in China is unconfirmed but Chinese technology site 36kr claims it is due to component shortages. In addition to facing delays in receiving parts for the Model 3, Tesla is said to be facing issues with a crucial piece of manufacturing equipment that is being fixed.
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Tesla’s Chinese Gigafactory had been proving crucially important for the company in recent weeks with the Fremont facility idled. Earlier in the year, the Shanghai plant was forced to close because of the coronavirus outbreak, but with the assistance of local authorities, the automaker was able to quickly resume production and start making local deliveries.
In an official statement, Tesla says it is conducting normal maintenance work at the factory and used the Labor Day holidays to conduct production-line adjustments.
It’s not all bad news for Tesla. California Governor Gavin Newsom has set out rules to allow state manufacturers to begin re-opening from Friday, although it doesn’t appear as though Tesla will benefit from this, at least not initially. Tesla’s Fremont factory is located in the Alameda county and under a separate lockdown scheduled to last until the end of May. The state order from Newsom does not supersede the county plan, Reuters reports.
