Shares of Tesla hit a two-year low on Tuesday, dropping 11.5% to $109. That’s the lowest since August 2020, and a whopping 73% drop from their peak in November 2021. The latest Tesla stock drop follows on from a report issued by Reuters, in in which it is claimed that the company plans to run a reduced output at its Shanghai factory in January. Apparently, the Musk-led company will only run production for 17 days in the first month of 2023. It will then stop between January 20 and January 31 in what is described in the report as “an extended break for Chinese New Year”. Such an extreme ended break is not established Tesla procedure. While no explanation was offered as to the reason behind this pause in production, it’s being speculated that demand for new Tesla cars has dropped significantly, including in the lucrative Chinese market. Tesla has been going through a rough patch of late, largely prompted by the travails of CEO Elon Musk. The billionaire maverick has caused significant concern among investors due to the ongoing distraction of Musk’s Twitter acquisition, which has been disastrous by any measure. Musk himself has been forced to sell billions of dollars worth of his own Tesla stocks in order to complete the purchase of the beleaguered social network. He recently confirmed that he would quit as Twitter CEO, but only when he finds “someone foolish enough to take the job”.
