Tesla Sells Nearly 53,000 China-made Vehicles in November

resource from: Reuters   

China-made Model 3 vehicles are seen during a delivery event at Tesla's factory in Shanghai. (Photo: Reuters)

Electric automaker Tesla continues to grow sales of its China-built vehicles. The company sold 52,859 China-made vehicles in November, including 21,127 for export, the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) said on Wednesday.

Tesla is currently building the Model Y crossover and Model 3 sedan at its factory in Shanghai, which first began producing cars in late 2019. The company's November sales maintained their upward momentum.

Tesla sold 54,391 China-made vehicles in October, including 40,666 that were exported. The drop in exports during November shows that Tesla is selling more electric vehicles to Chinese customers in the world's biggest auto market.

Tesla rivals Nio Inc sold 10,878 cars last month, which was a record high for the EV startup, while XPeng Inc delivered 15,613 vehicles.

XPeng delivered 25,666 electric vehicles in the third quarter of 2021, setting a new quarterly record and representing an increase of 199.2% from 8,578 in the corresponding period of 2020. In addition, the strong sales are a 47.5% jump from the 17,398 vehicles the company sold in the second quarter of 2021. 

Although the CPCA said passenger car sales in November in China totalled 1.85 million, the number is down roughly  12.5% from a year earlier, which indicates that China's motor vehicle sales have not fully rebounded from the pandemic.

Tesla sold 56,006 China-made vehicles in September, according to the CPCA. It was the highest number of China-built vehicles sold since Tesla's Shanghai factory began producing cars nearly two years ago. The September sales included 3,853 vehicles that were exported.

Tesla's factory in Shanghai allows it to avoid tariffs by building cars locally for the China market. As the the world's biggest auto market, it's an important one for Tesla to remain profitable. The factory was designed to manufacture up to 500,000 vehicles per year, according to Tesla.

Tesla's China-built vehicle sales have rebounded since the first half of the year. In July, sales of Tesla's China-made vehicles fell by 69% to just 8,621 cars compared to June when Tesla sold 28,138 electric vehicles in China. 

Tesla's sales decline six months ago can be partially attributed to its clashes with regulators in China earlier this year. 

resource from: Reuters

FutureCar Staff