Tesla China announced that it is already producing the MIC Model 3 at a run rate of 3,000 units per week. The company also stated that it had started local battery pack production in December. The Shanghai branch made the announcement on its official Weibo account.
Tesla China executives hinted at a possible 3K a week production rate for Gigafactory 3 during the ceremonial MIC Model 3 delivery event at the end of December. At the time, they had stated that GF3 was producing 280 vehicles a day at 10-hour shifts. Based on those numbers, Tesmanian had calculated that Gigafactory 3 was close to manufacturing 2K cars per week.
Grace Tao, the Vice President of Tesla Global, was the first to announce Tesla China's goal for GF3 to produce 3K vehicles a week. When Tao made the prediction, she was confident that Tesla's Shanghai Factory could meet those numbers, and she seems to have been proven right.
Credit: Tesla China
Tesmanian also reported in December 2019, that GF3's phase 1.5--the battery facility--seemed almost complete, based on video footage from Wuwa Vision and Jason Yang. Battery production hasn't really been talked about much in reports or by the Tesla China team.
However, on its official Weibo account, the Tesla China also announced that it started local battery pack production last December. This announcement is supported by Senior Official at GF3 Xue Juncheng's statement that 30 percent of MIC Model 3s were made from local supplies from China-based vendors.
Lastly, Tesla China also announced that it has already produced 1,000 MIC Model 3 units that are ready for delivery. Official MIC Model 3 deliveries will kick off on January 7, exactly a year after GF3's ground-breaking ceremony.
Tesla's Shanghai HQ recently reduced the price of the MIC Model 3 to RMB299,050 (US$42,900). Paint options for the locally-made electric sedan were also decreased, especially for the popular China-red color which dropped from RMB18,900 (US$2,700 to RMB 8,000 (US$1,100). Tesla China didn't stop there. It reduced the price of other products and services as well.
Featured Image Credit: Tesla China
About the Author
Claribelle Deveza
Longtime writer and news/book editor. Writing about Tesla allows me to contribute something good to the world, while doing something I love.
