Tesla (TSLA.O) has informed workers and suppliers that production at its Shanghai factory would not resume on Monday as planned.
The American manufacturer hoped to resume production on Monday, citing two sources, as it expected to see its first group of workers released from a city-imposed lockdown to tackle a surge of Covid-19 cases.
Monday’s manufacturing plans, on the other hand, have been cancelled, according to the message, which did not specify why or when the company expected activities to resume.
Tesla’s Shanghai facility, which makes cars for the Chinese market and serves as a vital export centre, has been shut down since March 28 after the government imposed a two-stage lockdown that began east of the Huangpu River, where the factory is located.
Tesla had planned to shut down for only four days, but production plans for Friday and Saturday were cancelled after police tightened travel restrictions in the city’s eastern part. Almost the entire city of Shanghai is currently under lockdown.
Since the factory began production in late 2019, the current shutdown is one of the longest. According to one of the sources, Tesla’s Shanghai facility produces 6,000 Model 3 and 10,000 Model Y automobiles every week.
“Due to supply chain problems and China’s zero-Covid policy, this was a *exceptionally* difficult quarter,” Elon Musk, the company’s CEO, wrote in a tweet on Saturday.
