Tesla’s Giga Shanghai rolled its 2 millionth car off the production lines this week. This production milestone was achieved in one third of the time it took the factory to built its first million cars, underscoring the remarkable success and rapid growth of Tesla’s operations in China.
Giga Shanghai, located in the Lingang Free Trade Zone of Shanghai, had many critics in its early days. Despite those who labelled the site a mud put, Giga Shanghai was officially opened in January 2019, just over one year after construction first began. As quickly as Tesla was able to build the factory, they were also able to ramp production, with the factory becoming a symbol of efficiency and innovation in the automotive industry.
According to the official Tesla Asia account on X, the 2 millionth car, a Model Y, rolled off the production line at Giga Shanghai this week, just short of the factory’s fourth birthday.
Gigafactory Shanghai achieves 2 million production milestone 🎉 pic.twitter.com/R3UxQ4Xal7
— Tesla Asia (@Tesla_Asia) September 6, 2023
What makes this production milestone most impressive is the speed with which Tesla was able to achieve it. As we noted the factory opened in January 2019, and within the first 33 months it was able to build one million cars in August 2022. With an impressive ramp in production after several factory upgrades, crews at Giga Shanghai were able to build the second million just over one year later (13 months), consisting of both the Model Y, and the old and new version of the Model 3.
Giga Shanghai’s production figures will likely take a dip over the next few months as the factory ramps production of that new Model 3. According to the latest reports from Tesla China insiders, production of the new Model 3 will reach 1,200 units per day next week. For comparison, about 2,400 Model Ys are built in a single day at the factory.
