Shanghai began lifting its lockdown on June 1, allowing most citizens to move freely in the city, though Tesla and Volkswagen plan to isolate factory workers in a closed-loop management system until June 10, people familiar with the matter said.
Tesla told the more than 10,000 employees living in the "factory bubble" that it is ready to stay in a closed-loop system until June 10, hoping to ensure stable production through a 10-day buffer period. In fact, since late March, Tesla’s Shanghai factory has been closed for three weeks due to the pandemic, resulting in a loss of about 40,000 vehicles. In order for the factory to resume production smoothly, day and night workers were placed in abandoned factories and shared beds in old military camps.
According to Bloomberg, SAIC Volkswagen also told employees at its Shanghai plant that the closed-loop system will be maintained until June 10. All employees living on site are required to stay, while others should stay at home. The company will open on June 13. Overall production will be gradually strengthened between the 13th and the 30th.
In this regard, a Volkswagen spokesperson responded that since SAIC-Volkswagen is still in a closed-loop production system, its production plan will be further adjusted in accordance with relevant policies but no specific timetable has been given. Tesla China did not respond.
From June 1, people in low-risk areas of Shanghai can move freely in the city and companies no longer need to be included on the "white list" to resume production.
No cars were sold in Shanghai last month and overall car sales in China plunged 36% from a year ago to 1.06 million vehicles, the biggest drop since March 2020, according to the CPCA. In order to stimulate the cratered car market, China announced that some cars purchased from June 1 to the end of the year will have its purchase tax halved. It is expected that more than 90% of gasoline-powered passenger cars will benefit, with a maximum tax reduction of more than 10,000 yuan per car.
(Image: Tesla)
