The Alameda County Sheriff’s office in California said in an official tweet on Tuesday night that Tesla’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) Fremont car factory is not an “essential business” under the definition of its “shelter in place” order, implemented to slow the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus.
This appears to mean that Elon Musk’s electric vehicle and solar energy business will not be permitted to keep manufacturing and delivering new cars from its main U.S. car plant for the duration of the order, and contradicts what Tesla CEO Elon Musk and North America HR leader Valerie Workman told employees there as recently as Monday night.
The two wrote in e-mails that were sent to all employees that the car plant would stay open, and employees were expected to work if they were in production, service and delivery roles, or take unpaid leave if they had health concerns.
Tesla stock was down 3.3% during regular trading on Tuesday, while most tech stocks were sharply up. Shares withered soon after Wednesday’s open by $37.05, or 8.6%, to $393.15 on the news.
The Fremont plant is the only car-making factory Tesla operates in the U.S., and is responsible for the bulk of Model 3 sedans delivered to U.S. customers. It is also the only place where Tesla manufactures its new Model Y crossover SUVs.
Tesla makes a smaller amount of its Model 3s outside of the U.S. in its new Shanghai factory where COVID-19 forced a temporary closure as well.
