Tesla pauses Shanghai output amid fresh Covid-19 lockdown
Tesla has reportedly paused output from its factory in Shanghai, China’s largest city which has entered a fresh lockdown today.
The carmaker, founded by billionaire Elon Musk, has notified its workers and suppliers of the move, Reuters first reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Shanghai officials said last night that they would impose a new lockdown on the city in two stages, to undergo mass Covid-19 testing over nine days for its more than 27m residents.
Shanghai’s Pudong financial district and nearby areas will be locked down until Friday, the local government said.
In the second phase of the lockdown, the vast downtown area west of the Huangpu River that divides the city will start its own five-day lockdown on Friday.
Residents will be required to stay home and deliveries will be left at checkpoints to ensure there is no contact with the outside world. Offices and all businesses not considered essential will be closed and public transport suspended.
Onlookers fear the economic toll of the latest lockdown and what it means for already strained supply chains, after China shuttered port city and technology hub Shenzhen just weeks ago.
The lockdown in Shenzhen saw Apple supplier Foxconn also shut its plants.
“Now we could have another wave of stoppages, or at least limitations on supply, that threaten to push prices still higher,” Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG Group, told City PM at the time.
“It’s another burden on a set of supply chains that could really do without it – the pandemic and then the surge in demand has produced plenty of problems, which have then been compounded by the war in Ukraine.”