Tesla’s China plant might have come to the carmaker’s rescue last quarter
- The electric car giant may have delivered more than 83,000 vehicles in the second quarter, helped by its new Gigafactory in Shanghai
- Tesla chief executive Elon Musk suggested to the company’s employees that the carmaker could manage to avoid a quarterly loss
Tesla endured a roughly seven-week shutdown of its most important electric car plant in the world in the second quarter, but its brand-new backup factory may have saved the day.
Expectations were much lower just a few months ago, when Tesla and its car industry peers shut factories and showrooms and watched their stock prices crater. But while other car manufacturers’ shares have come back slowly, Tesla’s have soared, closing on Tuesday at a record high of US$1,079.81.
What is helping Tesla’s cause is its new plant in Shanghai, which started delivering electric vehicles to public customers in January. The carmaker also began production of the Model Y crossover in March and rushed to reopen its Fremont, California, factory in May so that it could resume filling orders for what chief executive Elon Musk has predicted will become the company’s top seller.
“The lesson learned by now is that TSLA shares tend to ‘work’ when something new has launched,” Jeffrey Osborne, a Cowen analyst with the equivalent of a sell rating on the stock, said in a report on Tuesday. “At this point both the Model Y and China-built cars are ramping up.”
