(Reuters) - Tesla Inc has announced it has stopped taking new orders for its flagship Model X and Model S outside North America, Electrek reported on Friday.

According to the report, which cited an email Tesla started sending to customers waiting for their Model S and Model X orders in Europe, the U.S. electric-vehicle maker expects deliveries outside North America to start in the second half of 2022.

Tesla, whose shares were down nearly 2% in early trading, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The company, which delivered over 9,000 Model S and Model X cars to customers in the third quarter, had paused production of the two models earlier this year while installing new equipment to ramp up production.

(Reporting by Tiyashi Datta in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)