BEIJING, December 28 (TMTPOST)— Tesla China played down recent reports about the scheduled shutdown around Chinese New Year, which triggered more concerns on demand.

Source: Visual China

“The reported Tesla’s holiday shutdown were not accurate as most of employees at Shanghai Gigafactory will enjoy their holiday leave from January 20 to 28, which just one day earlier than the beginning of public  New Year holidays officially given and one day later than the holiday ends,” a leader at Tesla China told local business magazine Caijing on Wednesday. Such arrangement is to allow workers, some of whom haven’t returned homeland a couple of years due to the Covid-19 restrictions, to arrange time for reunions flexibly, the insider explained. The person added that some of workshops still need to operate at high speed during the holiday period, and Tesla China has already made relevant arrangements and preparations.

The response from insider came as reports highlighted the output slowdown at Tesla Shanghai factory. Tesla told some of Shanghai employees to stop production from last Saturday and resume work on January 2, extending its planned eight-day suspension by two days, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The reported extension represents to start output halt a day earlier and resume production a day later. A day later, Reuters cited an internal schedule that Tesla extended its reduced production schedule into next month as it plans to run from January 3 to 19 and halt production from Jan. 20 to 31 at its Shanghai factory, compared with the public holiday period for the upcoming Chinese New Year from Jan. 21 to 27 of 2023. The Shanghai factory of the major electric vehicle (EV) maker kept normal operation in the last week of 2022 and only took a three-day break for the following-up Chinese New Year, also known as Spring Festival, noted the report on Tuesday.

The news seemed to intensify concerns on weakening demand after Tesla last week doubled discounts for two models in U.S. by the end of the year. The past Tuesday saw Tesla’s shares listed in U.S. slumped more than 11%, the biggest one-day loss since April, and closed at the lowest since August, 2020 with a seven-day losing streak.  

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