Tesla temporarily halts production at Model 3 line in California

Tesla Inc has told workers it will temporarily halt some production at its car assembly plant in California, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing a person familiar with the matter.
 

Workers on a Model 3 sedan production line in Fremont were told their line would be down from Feb. 22 until March 7, according to the report. (https://bloom.bg/2O1QpeB) The report did not clarify the reason for the halt, and Tesla could not be immediately reached for comment.
 

Tesla said last month that it might face a temporary impact from a global semiconductor shortage.
 

Other global automakers like General Motors are shutting assembly lines due to chip shortages, as consumer demand has snapped back unexpectedly quickly from the coronavirus crisis.

Chipmaker Samsung Electronics said last week that it had suspended its factory in Texas as a winter storm caused power outages. Samsung declined to identify its customers for the factory, but in 2019, Tesla said its self-driving chips are manufactured at Samsung's factory in Texas.
 

It was unclear how much volume or revenue Tesla would lose due to the production halt. The Fremont plant has an annual production capacity of 500,000 Model 3s and Model Ys combined.
 

Tesla, which also has production facilities in China, said last month it may be able to grow its annual sale volume by more than 50% this year.
 

Tesla last week reduced the price of its cheaper variants of the Model 3 and the Model Y, the latest in a series of price cuts at a time when legacy automakers are trying to fight back with new models.