“This was an exceptionally difficult quarter, due to supply-chain interruptions and China's zero-Covid policy,” company boss Elon Musk tweeted. “Outstanding work by the Tesla team and key suppliers saved the day.”
Tesla’s Shanghai factory has been impacted particularly hard. It was shut down completely on 28 March because a two-stage lockdown has been imposed in areas of the city where Covid cases have since surged. The rising number of cases in the Chinese city has also led to the cancellation of the Shanghai motor show.
Tesla was due to restart production on Monday 4 April, but production plans have since been cancelled Reuters has reported, as most of Shanghai is still under strict lockdown. The Shanghai factory is increasingly important to Tesla’s production. In October last year, Musk claimed it has overtaken the production output of the Fremont factory in California, US.
To reduce delays, many M3s were delivered without a USB-c hub and wireless chargers (retrofitted). Data capability was also dropped making all M3 and MY charger-only in the centre console. Autopilot lost some redundant hardware making them unsuitable for L3 autonomy.