Tesla China appears to be stepping it up with just a few days until the end of the year. And it seems that Tesla China is ending the year with a final, sizable export batch made up of thousands of cars, according to recent aerial footage shot at the Shanghai South Port.
Wu Wa, a longtime drone operator and observer of Tesla who has followed the company’s projects and advancements since the early days of Gigafactory Shanghai, spotted the export fleet. The drone operator reported that on December 27, when the flyover of the Shanghai South Port took place, a car carrier ship was loading Right Hand Drive (RHD) Tesla vehicles.
The Tesla watcher also mentioned that, although there have been rumors that a ship may arrive sooner, a car carrier ship is scheduled to transport the Model 3 and Model Y export fleet on January 8. In any case, it would be prudent for supporters of Tesla to anticipate that the automobiles in the export fleet will probably only be counted toward the company’s Q4 production figures rather than its Q4 deliveries.
This fourth quarter, Tesla China took a somewhat different approach. In the past, the first half of a quarter was when Gigafactory Shanghai would normally dedicate its resources to car exports. Usually, Tesla China would concentrate on fulfilling orders for domestic vehicles in the second half. However, Tesla China decided to maintain a balance between local deliveries and exports during Q4 2023.
In spite of the observation of export fleets in the Shanghai South Port, Tesla China appears to be selling a good number of domestic vehicles as well. The company’s car insurance registrations, which hit 18,500 in the week ending December 24, gave rise to hints about this. Additionally, according to CNEV Post’s estimate, Tesla China appears to have sold 60,200 cars domestically between December 1 and December 24.
Being the company’s largest vehicle plant in terms of volume, Tesla Giga Shanghai is vital to the operation of the business as a whole. Additionally, the Model 3 Highland is currently being produced only at this one Tesla factory. The facility was listed with an estimated yearly vehicle production capacity of over 950,000 in Tesla’s Q3 2023 Update Letter.
