SHANGHAI, May 24 (Reuters) - Tesla has cut

output of its best-selling Model Y electric car by a

double-digit percentage number at its Shanghai plant since

March, according to industry data and a source.

The move is aimed at addressing weakening demand for the

U.S. automaker's aged model in China, its second largest market

into which a majority of the cars produced at the Shanghai plant

are sold and where a brutal price war has erupted among electric

vehicle makers amid an economic slowdown.

The Shanghai plant, Tesla's biggest manufacturing hub

globally, planned to cut Model Y output by at least 20% during

the March to June period, said the person, who declined to be

named as the matter is private.

Data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers

(CAAM) showed the output of Model Y in China stood at 49,498

units in March and 36,610 in April, 17.7% and 33% lower,

respectively, compared to a year ago.

In total, Tesla produced 287,359 units of Model Y and Model

3 cars in China in the first four months, 5% lower than the same

period in 2023, with Model 3 output 10% higher, CAAM data

showed.

It was not immediately clear if the output cut would be

extended to the second half of this year or to Model 3 and if

Tesla's plants in the United States and Germany also adopted

similar output cuts.

Tesla did not respond to requests for comment.

Tesla has left out its goal of delivering 20 million

vehicles a year by 2030 in its latest impact report published on

Thursday, another sign the company was moving away from electric

cars as it shifts focus to robotaxis. The company has been

accelerating its pivot to bet on a breakthrough in artificial

intelligence to bring new revenue growth.

Despite the output cuts and recent layoffs at Tesla's China

sales and charging service teams, the company still aims to sell

600,000 to 700,000 cars in China in 2024 out of 2 million EVs it

aims to sell globally, unchanged from the targets at the

beginning of the year, a separate source said. The source did

not wish to be identified because of not being authorised to

speak to the media.

Tesla in April cut Model Y prices in China to their lowest

levels since the model was first launched in the country in

2021, while offering a zero-interest financing scheme for Model

3 buyers to boost sales.

Tesla's share in China's overall pure electric and plug-in

hybrid market has slid to 6.8% in the first four months of this

year from 7.8% in all of 2023, when it sold 603,664 cars in the

country, according to the China Passenger Car Association.

Homegrown BYD led the segment in China with a

34.3% share for the first four months, which was down from 35%

for the whole of 2023.

(Reporting by Zhang Yan and Casey Hall; Editing by Muralikumar

Anantharaman)