Tesla (TSLA) is starting to produce Model Y vehicles at Gigafactory Shanghai, according to a new drone flyover of the factory.
As we previously reported, Tesla has taken a new vehicle introduction strategy for Model Y. Unlike previous vehicle programs, which were launched in different markets with vehicles imported from Tesla’s Fremont factory in California, Tesla is only introducing Model Y in new markets once the vehicle is being produced there.
For the past nine months, Tesla has been expanding Gigafactory Shanghai to prepare for the production of the electric SUV.
The plant has more than doubled in size.
In October, Tesla released new pictures of the upcoming Model Y Shanghai factory
Last month, the automaker also obtained approval for Model Y made in China from the Ministry of Industry & Information Technology.
YouTuber Wu Wa, who has been doing regular drone flyovers of Gigafactory Shanghai, spotted a decent amount of Tesla Model Y vehicles coming out of the factory this week:
He wrote about what he saw while flying over the Tesla factory this week in the description of the YouTube video above:
This week, we saw 40 Model Ys wrapped in protective covers in the parking lot inside the Shanghai plant, and another four Model Ys had just joined them as workers prepared to cover the vehicles with protective covers.
Tesla has been guiding a start of Model Y production at Gigafactory Shanghai in “early 2021,” but most people have been speculating that production could start sooner with volume delivery starting in Q1 2021.
The first Model Y vehicles produced at Gigafactory Shanghai are expected to be delivered to local Tesla employees.
The hype around the Model Y in China is high, and the vehicle is expected to make a big splash in the small SUV/crossover segment, which is hugely popular in China.
Startups like Nio and Xpeng have been quick to address it with their own first electric vehicles.
Last month, an analyst of the auto market in China estimated that Tesla could sell as many as 30,000 Model Y vehicles per month once the cheaper version of the electric SUV is available.
That’s about three times bigger than Tesla’s Model 3 sales in the country.
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