Tesla is on track to produce 600,000 electric cars in China annually

For the last three months, Tesla has maintained an impressive output of over 50,000 electric cars a month in China, showing that Gigafactory Shanghai could potentially reach an annual capacity of 600,000 electric cars.

The China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) released November statistics today and confirmed that Tesla sold 52,859 China-made vehicles in November.

21,127 of those vehicles were exported, and the rest, 31,732, were sold in China.

The numbers are slightly down versus last month when Tesla sold 54,391 China-made vehicles, but they are up a stunning 348% year-over-year.

Even more impressive is the fact that Tesla has now maintained an output of over 50,000 vehicles per month at Gigafactory Shanghai for three months in a row.

With supply chain issues plaguing the auto industry, things can change, but right now, it looks like Gigafactory Shanghai is achieving an annualized output of over 600,000 electric cars per year.

Earlier this year, CEO Elon Musk disclosed that Gigafactory Shanghai has now surpassed Fremont factory in production capacity, and Tesla has made the Chinese factory its new main export hub.

When Tesla first announced plans for Gigafactory Shanghai, the automaker made it clear that it doesn’t plan to export cars out of China, but the plan changed earlier this year after production ramped up.

Shanghai went from beginning construction in December 2018 to starting production in December 2019.

Within just two years of starting production, it is now the biggest/most productive electric vehicle factory in the world by a wide margin.

Electrek’s Take

Some analysts are noting that sales in China are down, but it’s useless to look at them month-to-month since more of the production is allocated to exportation early in the quarter.

The real test of Tesla’s demand in China is going to be when Gigafactory Berlin achieves volume production next year.

Then we are going to get a better idea of how many cars Tesla can really sell in China.

As of now, there are too many factors that are muddying the numbers.