SHANGHAI — Tesla plans to step up output at its Shanghai assembly plant over the next two months to meet demand ignited by aggressive price cuts on its best-selling models, according to a planning memo seen by Reuters and a person with knowledge of the plan.
The automaker plans to produce a weekly average of nearly 20,000 units at the Shanghai factory in February and March, according to the memo, which detailed output plans for Tesla’s most productive and profitable manufacturing hub.
That level of production would take the plant’s output to roughly its rate in September, when it turned out 82,088 Model 3 and Model Y cars, according to data from China Passenger Car Association.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because the details of the plans are not public.
In December, the Shanghai plant had cut output by about a third from November, and extended a Lunar New Year holiday period for workers in January, to cope with rising inventory, before price cuts of between 6 percent and almost 14 percent in China.
On a conference call last week to discuss Tesla’s fourth-quarter results, CEO Elon Musk said orders were roughly double production in January after global price cuts.
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