made at its Shanghai plant to customers outside the country. Advertisement The Gigafactory 3 in the Lingang free-trade zone shipped 8,210 Model Ys to Europe in July, the company said in a statement on Monday. Tesla recently said the plant has become its main vehicle export hub. “It goes without saying that the Shanghai Gigafactory is playing a strategic role in Tesla’s global layout,” said Tesla in the statement. The shipments confirm speculation earlier this year that the American electric car giant would tap the capacity of its Shanghai facility to meet demand for Model Ys in Europe before production begins at its plant in Berlin. “Increasing exports from the Shanghai factory will eventually help Tesla expand its manufacturing capacity and fine-tune the supply chain here,” said Gao Shen, an independent analyst in Shanghai. “It remains to be seen whether [Tesla boss] Musk will strengthen R&D capabilities in the world’s largest EV market in the near future.” Advertisement