Tesla Shanghai factory hits milestone output of 3m cars

SHANGHAI - The 3 millionth vehicle produced by Tesla Gigafactory Shanghai rolled off the assembly line on Friday, reaching a new milestone amid the US company's commitment to developing along with China's new energy sector.

The vehicle, a fully electric Model Y, drove off the assembly line at 6 pm, the company said.

Tesla's Shanghai plant, the carmaker's first gigafactory outside the United States, began construction in January 2019, and turned out the first vehicle in December of that year.

The Shanghai factory produced its first 1 million cars in over 30 months, while it took about 13 months for the output to climb from 2 million to 3 million, according to the company.

The first three quarters of this year saw the Shanghai factory deliver 675,000 vehicles, accounting for over half of the company's global deliveries during the period, Tesla said.

One third of the 3 million vehicles produced by the factory have been sold to markets outside the Chinese mainland, including Europe and Asia-Pacific countries, it said.

In May, the US company broke ground on a mega factory in Shanghai to manufacture its energy-storage batteries Megapacks. The new factory is expected to start operation in the first quarter of next year.