Tesla China’s January 2022 results have been released, and they are pretty impressive. As per data released by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA), Tesla China’s wholesale figures last month reached 59,845 vehicles. This represents an increase of 286.5% year-over-year but a slight 15.5% decline compared to December 2021’s record-setting results.
Among this number, a total of 40,499 vehicles were exported to foreign territories. This was hinted at heavily in several drone flyovers of the Giga Shanghai site and Luchao Port, which revealed thousands of Model 3 and Model Y waiting to be exported over the month. Tesla China sold a total of 19,346 vehicles locally in January 2022 as well.
Gigafactory Shanghai may have become the company’s primary vehicle export hub, but Tesla is still looking to make the facility even more productive. This was something outlined by Tesla CFO Zachary Kirkhorn during the company’s Q4 and FY 2021 earning call. According to the executive, Tesla’s goals of achieving 50% growth year-over-year should be possible with just the Fremont Factory and Giga Shanghai, though the company would still have to deal with challenges in the supply chain.
“We continue to drive for vehicle volume growth at or above 50%, as Elon mentioned, and our plans show that this is actually achievable with just our Fremont and Shanghai factories. For quite some time now, these factories have been running below capacity due to macro challenges with supply and logistics. As Elon mentioned as well, from what we’re seeing, the pace of growth in 2022 will again be determined by supply chain and logistics, which is quite difficult for us to forecast,” Kirkhorn said.
To state that the role of Gigafactory Shanghai is growing would be an understatement. As per local reports, the facility had a capacity of about 450,000 units last year, though local estimates point to the idea of the factory hitting an annual production capacity of around or over 1 million units in the next few years. This should ensure that Giga Shanghai continues to play a primary role in Tesla’s overall expansion in the near future.
Don’t hesitate to contact us with news tips. Just send a message to simon@teslarati.com to give us a heads up.