The gigafactory in Shanghai is playing an increasingly important role in Tesla's global production and export network, with its product localization rate now exceeding 95 percent, said Grace Tao, vice-president of Tesla.

"Tesla's achievements in China were created together with over 400 Chinese suppliers, more than 60 of which have entered our global supply chain," Tao said, highlighting the robust manufacturing ecosystem bolstering the facility.

This growing significance is underscored by the company's recent sales performance. According to data released last Friday by the China Passenger Car Association, Tesla's domestic sales in China exceeded 56,000 units in March, marking a 47 percent month-on-month increase, with the Model Y securing the top spot in domestic passenger car sales.

The Shanghai Gigafactory delivered over 85,600 electric vehicles in March, an 8.7 percent increase year-on-year. In the first quarter, cumulative deliveries reached 213,000 units, representing a 23.5 percent growth compared to the same period last year.

Serving as Tesla's largest global export hub, the Shanghai facility exported more than 29,000 vehicles in March. The China-led, designed and manufactured Model Y L — a large six-seat luxury SUV — is currently being rolled out across multiple Asia-Pacific markets, sparking a wave of orders. According to industry tracker Focus2Move, the Model Y was the world's best-selling passenger car in 2025 for the third consecutive year, with cumulative sales surpassing 4 million units.

Tesla also demonstrated strong global growth last month. In Australia, the Model Y topped the list of best-selling battery electric vehicles.

In South Korea, Tesla's monthly sales broke the 11,000-unit mark, making it the first imported brand to exceed 10,000 monthly sales and boosting its first-quarter local sales by 335 percent year-on-year. European markets saw similar surges, with March new car registrations jumping 203 percent in France and 315 percent in Germany.

The robust market performance is backed by stringent safety standards.

Multiple Tesla models have earned five-star safety ratings from global authorities including the NHTSA and Euro NCAP. Tao said the quality inspection team regularly conducts inspections to thoroughly check connection strength and durability. For the Model Y, nearly 3,000 welding spots and over 400 glue sections are meticulously inspected.

Building on this durable hardware, Tesla's over-the-air (OTA) software updates keep the vehicles constantly refreshed, having completed 58 updates between 2022 and 2025. This long-term product viability is reflected in the secondhand market, where the Model X, Model 3 and Model Y have dominated the top three spots for three-year-old pure EV resale value for two consecutive months.

In terms of infrastructure, Tesla's energy storage deployment reached 8.8 gigawatt-hours in the first quarter. The global Supercharger network produced 1.8 terawatt-hours of electricity during the same period, up 22 percent year-on-year.

As of March, Tesla operated over 80,000 Superchargers globally. In the Chinese mainland, the company has opened more than 2,500 Supercharger stations, covering all provincial capitals and municipalities, with over 950 stations now open to non-Tesla brands. By March 2026, Tesla had also established 588 direct stores across 119 Chinese cities.

"We have always attached great importance to the Chinese market, which not only is one of the most important new energy vehicle markets globally, but also boasts an open market environment, a complete supply chain system and a rich reserve of high-quality talent," Tao said, adding that China's NEV global market share reached 68.4 percent in 2025.

"Tesla is not just an electric vehicle company, but a technology enterprise centered on AI, robotics and energy. In the future, we will introduce more of Tesla's smart products and technologies to China to build a world of amazing abundance," Tao added.