Tesla halts production in Shanghai as part of year-end break

Xiaolu Chu

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) suspended production at its Shanghai plant on Saturday, according to Reuters.

In an internal posting, the electric vehicle maker cancelled a morning shift and told all workers they could start a end-of-year break early. The plant has not shut down in the same manner the last several years.

Tesla (TSLA) did not indicate a specific reason for the production halt, although Reuters reported previously that the Shanghai plant's suspension of Model Y assembly at the end of the month would be part of a 30% cut in planned production for the model in December. Separately, sources have indicated that workers at Tesla's Gigafactory in Shanghai and supplier plants have been falling sick as part of a national breakout of COVID cases.

Tesla (TSLA) fell 1.76% on Friday to record its sixth straight daily loss. That is the longest losing streak for the EV stock since March 2020.

The next hurdle for Tesla investors is the Q4 deliveries report due out in the first few days of January. Wedbush Securities forecasts Tesla's Q4 deliveries tally will land in the 410K to 415K range, down from a prior for 450K and well below the Street whisper numbers in the ~435K range. Tesla (TSLA) would need to hit 475K deliveries to achieve its broad multi-year target of 50% production growth for the year.