Tesla Shanghai plant restores weekly output to 70% of pre-lockdown level

Tesla Inc has restored weekly output at its Shanghai plant to nearly 70 per cent of the level which it had operated at before the city's Covid-19 lockdown, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The US automaker, which added a second shift of workers in the middle of last week, is expected to increase output further this week, said the people, who declined to be named as the matter is private.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Bringing production back to pre-lockdown levels has been a challenge for Tesla at the Shanghai plant, known as Gigafactory 3, amid the ongoing lockdown of the Chinese economic hub which forced the factory to shut for 22 days.

While the city government had given Tesla significant help to reopen, the company had battled numerous obstacles such as insufficient workers as well as logistics problems that impacted the supplies of parts, including wire harnesses.

This forced it on many occasions to delay plans to reopen or increase output and even halt most of its production at the plant at one point.

After reopening on April 19, the Tesla factory produced 10,757 vehicles by the end of April, selling 1,512 of them, data released by the China Passenger Car Association showed.