Half of Tesla's global deliveries in 2021 came from China, as the EV maker moved its export hub to Shanghai from Fremont

The electric vehicle maker moved its export hub from California to China, and now it looks like the Gigafactory will play a bigger role.

About half of the 936,000 vehicles delivered by the company last year came from the Gigafactory in Shanghai.

According to the China Passenger Car Association, the EV maker sold a record 70,847 vehicles in December, taking the total sales of its made-in-China cars to at least 473,078 in 2021. In December, there were just 245 vehicles exported from China, but in October and November there were 40,666 and 21,127. Musk said that the company usually focuses on local deliveries in the last month of the quarter.
As production at its top factory in California has been overtaken by production at its top factory in China, deliveries from China have been strong.

In its second-quarter earnings presentation last year, the world's most valuable carmaker said that it had made the Shanghai factory its primary vehicle export hub due to strong US demand and global average cost maximization.
Despite supply chain challenges faced by the auto industry, production in Shanghai increased in the third quarter. During its Q3 results briefing, the company said that the potential annual output at the Shanghai plant exceeded 450,000 vehicles.
According to a filing to the Shanghai government and Beijing Daily, the company plans to invest up to 1.2 billion Chinese dollars in expanding production capacity.

At the end of the year, the factory started delivering. It makes electric Model 3 sedans and Model Y SUVs for the Chinese markets and beyond.