Tesla is expecting a production delay at its Chinese factory caused by the coronavirus

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Tesla's Shanghai factory.

• Tesla expects a production delay of one to one-and-a-half weeks at its Shanghai factory due to a government-ordered shutdown prompted by the coronavirus.
• The shutdown won't have a significant impact on Tesla's first-quarter financial results, CFO Zach Kirkhorn said, as the Shanghai factory is not yet a major contributor to the electric-car maker's earnings.
• At least 170 people in China have died from the coronavirus, which has spread to all of the country's major regions.
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Tesla expects production at its factory in Shanghai to be delayed by a week to a week-and-a-half due to a government-ordered closure motivated by the coronavirus, CFO Zach Kirkhorn said on Wednesday.

The shutdown won't have a significant impact on Tesla's first-quarter financial results, Kirkhorn said, as the Shanghai factory is not yet a major contributor to the electric-car maker's earnings. The company is not aware of any major disruptions to the supply chain at is Fremont, California, factory, Kirkhorn added.

Tesla started delivering Model 3 sedans made at the Shanghai factory only 11 months after construction began, a development that indicates the company's history of production delays may be behind it. The first deliveries of Shanghai-made Model 3s have likely contributed to the massive increase in Tesla's stock price over the past three months, from $255 when the company reported a surprise third-quarter profit in October to $646 when markets opened on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Tesla reported that its fourth-quarter financial results beat Wall Street's estimates. Tesla made an adjusted profit of $2.14 per share on revenue of $7.4 billion during the quarter, while financial analysts had expected an adjusted gain of $1.74 per share and $7.1 billion in revenue, according to Bloomberg.

Over 7,700 people in China have contracted the coronavirus, at least 170 of whom have died from it. The virus has spread to each of China's 34 major regions.

Are you a current or former Tesla employee? Do you have an opinion about what it's like to work there? Contact this reporter at mmatousek@businessinsider.com. You can also reach out on Signal at 646-768-4712 or email this reporter's encrypted address at mmatousek@protonmail.com.

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