Tesla China has been producing local battery packs at the Gigafactory 3 (GF3) since December 2019. It has also been producing Made-in-China (MIC) Model 3 electric vehicles at record-breaking rates. The company recently announced on its official Weibo account that the production rate for that car has now exceeded 3,000 units per week!
The Shanghai branch previously reported in December, during the ceremonial MIC Model 3 delivery event, a build rate of approximately 280 cars a day (10-hour shift) or up to roughly 2,000 per week. The company executives had, at that point, hinted at the possibility of 3,000 a week production rate.
The vice president of Tesla Global, Grace Tao, was the one that confidently announced Tesla China’s goal for GF3 to produce 3,000 cars a week. She was more than right because Tesla’s Shanghai Factory not only met those numbers but surpassed them!
The same month, Tesmanian also reported that GF3’s phase 1.5 seemed nearly complete based on video footage from Jason Yang and Wuwa Vision. GF3 phase 1.5 is a battery manufacturing facility, and GF3 had already started producing Model 3 Standard Range Plus battery packs. Xue Juncheng, Senior Official at GF3, supported this announcement with his statement that 30% of MIC Model 3s were made from local supplies from China-based vendors.
Lastly, but not least, Tesla China disclosed the news that it has 1,000 MIC Model 3 units complete and ready for delivery. January 7th, 2020 was the official MIC Model 3 delivery kickoff date, precisely one year after GF3s ground-breaking ceremony.
And here’s some good news for the pockets of those looking to buy one of these cars: Tesla’s Shanghai HQ reduced the price of the MIC Model 3 to US$42,900 (RMB299,050). Other price reductions include paint options for the locally-made electric sedan, primarily the China-red color, which dropped from US$2,700 (RMB18,900) to US$1,100 (RMB 8,000), as well as several other products and services.
