To The Moon

Production output for Tesla in China has reportedly once again been halted and is being (once again) blamed on the global semiconductor shortage.

Short of the pandemic, the semi shortage has become a very convenient scapegoat, especially for the auto industry, for numerous manufacturers who have shut down production temporarily and idled plants throughout 2021.

Tesla's Shanghai plant was halted "for about four days" in August, according to anew report from Reuters.

Production is reportedly now "back to normal" and the halt was blamed on shortages with the availability of electronic control units, mainly for the company's Model Y.

In China, Tesla sold 32,968 China-made vehicles in July - this includes vehicles sold in China and vehicles exported - according to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA). This was below the 33,155 vehicles sold in June; a number that we pointed out could have been a sign that the ship had steadied between Tesla and China - and that demand was once again rising.

But July's numbers seem to indicate little, if any, growth in demand between June and July.

Shipments of locally made vehicles sold in China plunged, to 8,621 cars from 28,138 in June. There is generally cyclicality for automaker sales wherein the beginning of a quarter (July) comes in markedly lower than the end of the previous quarter (June).

PCA Secretary General Cui Dongshu said during a briefing last month: “Tesla tends to be aggressive in exports regardless of the domestic market in July. The fact that Tesla’s domestic deliveries didn’t reach 10,000 is normal and fine.”

24,347 of the 32,968 cars made in China were manufactured for export.

Tesla fell between BYD, who sold 50,387 China-made EVs and GM/SAIC, who sold 27.347 EVs.

Recall, other automakers have slowed production due to the semi shortage, too. Wereported last monththat Toyota had slashed global production for September by 40% from its previous outlook. The production cut will reduce Toyota's global production for September from 900,000 automobiles to 500,000.

As a result, Toyota's global production for the month will be below that of last September, when demand was beginning to recover from the initial stages of the coronavirus pandemic and Toyota turned out 840,000 units.