American electric vehicle giant Tesla recently commemorated its 10th anniversary in China, accumulating 1.7 million local customers.
Tesla China marks a decade of operation
Tesla China’s official Weibo account announced the significant milestone, commemorating its progress since it penetrated the country in 2014.
“10 years ago today, we put the flagship coupe Model S in the hands of 15 consumers who were at the forefront of their time. Today, 10 years later, we are serving more than 1.7 million Tesla owners in China. Tesla has more than 6 million owners globally and China has more than 20 million new energy vehicle (NEV) ownership.”
Tesla China on Weibo
Tesla Asia took the opportunity to thank Chinese customers, business partners, fans, and industry supporters for the company’s success in the country over the past ten years on social media platform X.
Brief history
In hindsight, Chief Executive Elon Musk handed over the initial batch of the Tesla Model S electric sedan to 15 customers in China on April 22, 2014.
Two of these owners are reportedly Xiaomi founder Lei Jun and Li Auto founder Li Xiang. That said, the American electric automaker undoubtedly played a crucial role in the Chinese electric vehicle industry’s success.
The fact that the leaders of its current competitors, Li Auto and Xiaomi, were among the first Tesla customers in the Chinese market demonstrates the significant impact of the arrival of the Model S.
Then, Tesla broke ground at its Shanghai factory on January 7, 2019. Its operation officially started at the end of the same year. According to CnEVPost, the Giga Shanghai is the country’s first wholly foreign-owned automotive production factory. As of now, it only produces the Tesla Model 3 and Y.
In January 2020, Tesla started the locally-produced Model 3 electric sedan deliveries to Chinese customers. The Tesla Model Y electric crossover followed a year later.
Tesla China’s footprint
Tesla’s Gigafactory Shanghai achieved its one million electric vehicle production milestone on August 13, 2022, almost three years after the facility started production.
Tesla China hit its 2 millionth EV production milestone on September 6, 2023. As of now, Giga Shanghai boasts an annual production output of over 950,000 EVs. This figure enabled Giga Shanghai to become the company’s largest factory in the world by volume.
In 2023, Tesla China’s electric vehicle sales reached a total of 947,742 Giga Shanghai-made units. It accounted for a whopping 52.4% of the brand’s 1,808,581 global deliveries.
Tesla remains a strong contender in the Chinese electric vehicle market. However, the growing dominance of BYD and the emergence of other cheap China-made models threaten Tesla’s position. In effect, Tesla recently announced significant price cuts across its lineup in China to further improve its appeal to Chinese customers.
