SHANGHAI -- Tesla's Gigafactory in Shanghai rolled out its 4 millionth vehicle on Monday, according to the company, marking a new milestone as the US carmaker deepens its development in step with China's rapidly growing new energy sector.

The company's Shanghai plant, its first gigafactory outside the United States, began construction in January 2019 and produced its first vehicle in December of that year.

Now turning out a new car roughly every 30 seconds, the plant accounts for nearly half of Tesla's global electric vehicle deliveries.

It took more than 30 months for the plant to produce its first 1 million vehicles, while output rose from 3 million to 4 million in about 14 months, according to the company.

It serves both the Chinese mainland market and overseas customers, with vehicles exported to Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. In October, the Shanghai plant shipped more than 35,000 vehicles abroad, the highest monthly export volume in two years, according to the company.

In February, Tesla's new Megafactory in Shanghai, dedicated to manufacturing energy-storage batteries, launched production, which is its second major facility in Shanghai and the first of its kind outside the United States.