Tesla extends Shanghai plant suspension amid lockdown

2/2© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Tesla China-made Model 3 vehicles are Dealerseen during a delivery event at its factory in Shanghai, China January 7, 2020. REUTERS/Aly Song2/2

SHANGHAI (Reuters) -Tesla has cancelled plans to resume production at its Shanghai factory on Friday and Saturday, an internal notice seen by Reuters showed, further delaying reopening of the manufacturing hub for its Model 3 and Model Y cars.

The Shanghai factory, located in the Pudong district east of the city's Huangpu River, suspended production from Monday to Thursday after the city launched a two-stage lockdown to combat a surge in COVID-19 cases.

The lockdown on districts east of the river is scheduled to lift in the early hours of April 1 and the U.S. automaker initially planned to resume production that day. However, the latest notice seen by Reuters said that it has cancelled production plans for April 1 and April 2.

Two people familiar with the matter said Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) had yet to secure permits from the Shanghai government for its trucks to deliver assembled electric cars outside of Pudong to western parts of the city.

Shanghai is set to lock down areas west of the river from the early hours of Friday morning.

The company may have also opted to extend the suspension because of a shortage of workers, with lockdowns continuing on some housing compounds, one of the sources said.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment on its plans to delay resumption of production until after April 2.

It told Reuters earlier on Thursday that it strictly implemented China's epidemic prevention and control requirements and would adjust its work based on the government's COVID-19 prevention policies.

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