A view of the construction site of the Tesla Gigafactory 3 in Shanghai Photo: Yang Hui/GT

Tesla's China factory is expanding by opening online recruitment for its manufacture workshop on Monday, while the majority of its plants in the world remained shutdown to stop the spread of COVID-19.

According to Tesla Hire, an official account of Tesla on WeChat for recruitment, Tesla has positions for technicians and operators for workshops on the production line, including die-casting, stamping, painting, assembly, power and motors. Tesla is also looking for professionals for quality testing, logistics and security.

Tesla's Shanghai plant is currently running smoothly and is expected to reach its target capacity of 4,000 units per week by June, which means its actual production will exceed the annual output of 150,000 units designed in the phase I Gigafactory, Tesla's China Vice President Tao Lin said on Monday, media reported.

"The second phase of Shanghai factory, which mainly produces Model Y, is under construction, and is expected to be completed by the end of this year. Thus Model Y is able to achieve mass production in the first quarter of next year," Tao added.

Tesla's car output in China exceeded 10,000 in April, with sales of Model 3 reached 3,635, per latest data from China Passenger Car Association. 

While the Chinese plant resumed work and is making efforts to make its components 100 percent domestically made by the end of the year, compared with 30 percent at present, most of Tesla's overseas plants remained closed.

Tesla's Fremont factory, located in Alameda County, California, struggled to reopen after 45-day shutdown and after that Tesla sued local authorities and threatened to move its headquarters out of the state.

China's experience is being exported as a model for US factories that have just returned to work, said Tao.

Tesla is among the latest batch of automakers to reopen production in the US, with Mercedes plant restarted as early as April 27 in Alabama.