It wasn't that long ago when the Tesla Model 3 was experiencing major production issues. CEO Elon Musk described it as "production hell." Although that's all in the past, the Model 3 was and still remains a vital vehicle for the California EV automaker's bottom line. Failure was not an option. And it appears lessons learned from that production hell have been applied locally as well as in China.

Reuters reports Tesla has begun Model 3 production at its new Shanghai factory for the Chinese market less than a year since work got underway at the $2 billion plant. The plant got up and running in only 357 days, supposedly a new record for global automakers in the world's largest car market. Up until now, China imported all of its Teslas. Customer deliveries are now slated to get underway before January 25, the Lunar New Year.