By Vlad Schepkov
BYD (SZ:002594) (OTC:BYDDY), one of China's biggest car makers and a key competitor of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) in the local market is making shift cuts at two of its EV plants in China, as reported by Reuters early Tuesday.
According to an internal memo, some workers of its Xian plant, the company's biggest factory that makes BYD's best-selling Song and Qin EVs, were asked to work just four days per week.
The Chinese auto giant also cut shifts at its Shenzhen plant from three shifts per day to two per day, people familiar with the matters said.
While no specifics on the reasoning of the length of the cuts were given, one Reuters source did say "BYD was throttling back on production in the face of weaker industry-wide demand in China since the start of the year."
BYD outsold Tesla by more than five times in the first two months of 2023, according to the report, although the company "has been slowing output since the start of the year when industry-wide sales began to slow and China ended a national subsidy programme for EVs and plug-in electric vehicles."
Shares of Tesla are trading around 1% higher in pre-market on Tuesday following the report.