Tesla China makes first export shipment after Shanghai factory reopens

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- On May 11, the ro-ro ship "GLOVIS SPLENDOR" carrying 4,767 Tesla's China-made vehicles departed from Port of Shanghai, indicating the first batch of exports since Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory resumed production on April 19, according to the local media outlet Shanghai Observer.

The car carrier is headed for the Port of Koper in Slovenia, the Shanghai-based media channel reported.

The next exports will take place two days later with 4,100 Tesla vehicles to be shipped.

The U.S. EV manufacturer last year said it aimed to export 300,000 cars from Shanghai in 2022. To achieve the goal, Tesla should export around 6,250 vehicles per week on average.

The data released yesterday by the China Passenger Car Association (“CPCA”) show that Tesla did not export any China-made Model 3s or Model Ys in April. The 1,512 Shanghai-made vehicles Tesla sold last month were all for China’s domestic market.

Tesla is dashing with all its might to compensate for the production losses caused by the plant shutdown. Since the Shanghai factory reopened, the automaker produced a total of 10,757 vehicles as of April, according to the CPCA.

For the first four months of 2022, the wholesales of China-made Tesla vehicles added up to 183,686 units, 40.2% of which were exported outside of China.

Shanghai's local auto giant SAIC Motor also expressed its confidence in rapid recovery of production. The group said last week it would endeavor to reach the year-ago level in both vehicle production and sales volumes in May.