Tesla Deliveries dropped due to factory closures in China

Tesla said it delivered 254,695 vehicles in the second quarter of 2022, down about 18% from the previous quarter. It is the first time in two years that Tesla has announced lower figures.

After announcing record quarters for nearly 2 years, US automaker Tesla has just revealed rather disappointing numbers for its second quarter 2022 shipments. Indeed, the company said it delivered 254,695 vehicles in the second quarter, down nearly 20% from the previous quarter’s 310,048 vehicles.

Tesla said Model 3 and Model Y vehicles accounted for 238,533 of those deliveries, while 16,162 for Model S and Model X vehicles isn’t entirely catastrophic for the company. Indeed, despite a decline in shipments from one quarter to the next, it is still a 26% increase year-on-year compared to the 201,250 vehicles delivered in the second quarter of 2021.

The COVID-19 pandemic seriously slows Tesla deliveries

The culprit behind the delay in Tesla vehicle deliveries is none other than the COVID-19 pandemic, which is still raging in Asia. Tesla was indeed forced by the Chinese government to its factory in Shanghai closed several times in March and April due to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases† After reopening last May, it took some time for the facility to return to full capacity. The closures of the Shanghai Gigafactory have therefore cost Tesla a lot of money, even though it was setting production records in some of its factories.

For example, the main factory in Fremont recorded the highest production figures at the beginning of June, setting a record for units built in a week. For its part, the Gigafactory Berlin in Germany managed to reach a production of 1,000 units in one week for the first time. Despite these setbacks, Tesla is still expected to exceed the one million vehicle mark by 2022† As a reminder, in 2021 Tesla was not far from the million. The company announced that it had sold a total of 936,172 vehicles, which is more than any of its competitors in the electric market.