What just happened? Elon Musk says that Tesla has now produced over 3 million vehicles, one million of which came from the company's Shanghai factory. The tweet comes just over two months after Tesla recorded its first sequential decline in vehicle deliveries for more than two years due to the Covid shutdowns in China.

"Congrats Giga Shanghai on making millionth car! Total Teslas made now over 3M" Musk tweeted yesterday, alongside a photo of plant workers celebrating hitting the milestone. It was just a few weeks ago that Musk revealed Tesla's Fremont, California, factory had produced its two millionth vehicle.

Tesla reported its Q2 earnings back in July. The company delivered 254,695 vehicles during the April to June period. While that marks a 26% increase over the 201,250 vehicles delivered in the second quarter of 2021, the figure for the preceding quarter (Q1 2022) stood at 310,048. Tesla also recorded a $2.26 billion net profit, a decline of around 31.5% quarter-on-quarter, and revenue was down from $18.7 billion in Q1 to $16.9 billion in Q2.

The Chinese lockdowns were blamed for Wall Street revising the expected number of Tesla deliveries in the second quarter. The Shanghai factory was responsible for about half the company's output last year, but a sudden increase in Covid cases combined with China's zero-tolerance approach to outbreaks saw production temporarily suspended at the facility and those belonging to its suppliers. Tesla was forced to increase output at the Fremont plant to try and make up for the shortfall. Musk did add at the time, however, that "we have the potential for a record-breaking second half of the year."

Tesla remains quite far down on the list of the world's biggest automakers, sitting in twentieth position (for 2021) between India's Tata in 19th place and Japan's Suzuki in 21st. Toyota, the number one car company, delivered over 10 million vehicles in 2021.

Tesla also has factories in Germany and Austin, which Musk previously described as "money furnaces," losing billions of dollars due to their expense and low output.

Musk last week revealed that he had sold $6.9 billion worth of Tesla shares to help fund his buyout of Twitter should the platform force him to complete the deal in court. The car giant has also sold 75% of its Bitcoin holdings due to concerns "about overall liquidity of the company given COVID shutdowns in China. "

Like virtually every company, Tesla's stock has fallen this year, by nearly 25% since January. But the share price has experienced a bit of a resurgence over the last month as it prepares for a 3-for-1 stock split.