Tesla Shares Slide On Shanghai Production Output Reports

Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) shares are down Tuesday on the back of reports that the electric vehicle company's schedule will be reduced at its Shanghai plant in January.

Reuters, citing an internal schedule it has seen, said the reduction extends the lesser output that began this month into next year.

Tesla shares are down more than 5% premarket, adding to its share price losses this year. In 2022 the stock has experienced a 67% decline, with a 54% fall in in the last three months.

Tesla will reportedly run production between January 3 to January 19, for 17 days, stopping output from January 20 to January 31, providing an extended Chinese New Year break. 

Reuters said Tesla didn't specify why it was extending the productio slowdown or whether it would continue work outside the assembly lines for the Model 3 and Model Y during the downtime. In addition, they added that it is not an established practice for Tesla to close production operations for an extended Chinese New Year.

Tesla pulled forward an established plan to halt most of its work at the Shanghai plant on Saturday, Reuters previously reported. The original plan was to pause work in the last week of December.

The reported production slowdown comes as Covid cases in China continue to rise, although China is easing restrictions, stepping back from its previous zero-Covid policy. 

However, rival electric vehicle manufacturer NIO announced today that it is trimming its fiscal fourth quarter delivery target.

NIO said it has been facing delivery and production challenges as a result of supply chain constraints caused by the Omicron Covid outbreak in major cities in China.