Tesla, SAIC and other Shanghai manufacturers get off to a slow start in resuming work, as shortages of staff and parts leave factories sitting idle
- At Tesla’s Gigafactory3, workers could not resume their assembly of electric cars because they were waiting for battery packs to be delivered
- At the Lingang area, SAIC Motor had to dip into its inventory for parts, churning out a few electric cars in a “stress test” of its production capacity

Several of Shanghai biggest manufacturers got off to a slow start in resuming work at their factories, as shortages of labour and vital parts after more than two weeks of a citywide shutdown left them lying idle.
Elsewhere in Lingang, SAIC Motor had to dip into its inventory for components, scheduling only one shift of workers to churn out a few electric vehicles in a “stress test” of its production capacity, according to people familiar with the plan.
“The full restoration of the entire supply chain in the automotive industry cannot be completed until May if the lockdown [of Shanghai] is not lifted,” said Roy Wang, a senior manager with Shanghai Wings Supply Chain Management, a logistics company that transports and stores car parts. “Efforts to restart production do not only involve policymaking in Shanghai, but support from other parts of the country.”
