The legal status and effect of utility model patent rights and invention patent rights are the same. However, due to the different examination procedures of the patent office, the stability of its rights is not as high as that of inventions. For example, if you want to file an infringement lawsuit, the court will generally require you to issue a "Patent Rights Evaluation Report."
However, your own production and sales have nothing to do with whether you have obtained a patent. The term of patent protection is calculated from the date of application, as long as no one else applies for a patent.
I think the reason why you raised this question is because currently, there is a relatively common method of patent application, that is, filing an invention and utility model patent application on the same day for the same invention and creation, so that it takes about 8 months. When a utility model is issued, the utility model is authorized first, while the invention is still in the examination process. If there is a prospect of authorization for the invention in the future, you can give up the previously authorized utility model patent and obtain the invention patent right; if there is no prospect of authorization for the invention in the future, it will not affect the invention. Obtained utility model patent rights.