Tesla saw a notable year-on-year sales decline of 17.8% in its China-made electric vehicles to 82,432 in November 2023, Reuters reports, citing the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).
The American auto giant’s November performance signified its largest sales decline since December 2022’s record low of a 21% YoY drop.
Nonetheless, Tesla’s Giga Shanghai-built EVs enjoyed a sales growth of 14.3% last month from just 72,115 in October.
It is also worth noting that Tesla’s Made-in-China (MIC) models continue to decline to 11.98% and 2.64% month-on-month in September and October, respectively. However, it may just be an impact of the Tesla Model 3 Highland’s production launch.
This year to date, Tesla’s MIC electric vehicle sales grew 30.31% YoY to 853,603 units.
Giga Shanghai
The Gigafactory Shanghai is currently Tesla’s largest production hub globally, with an annual output of 950,000+ electric cars.
CnEVPost further noted that Giga Shanghai manufactures Tesla’s popular EVs, including the e-sedan Model 3 since January 2020 and the e-SUV Model Y since January 2021.
Apart from supplying the Chinese market, Giga Shanghai also exports the EVs to the company’s other key markets across the world.
Tesla’s push
Tesla has just introduced the Model 3 Highland in China on September 1. It officially hit the market on October 19, while deliveries started on October 26.
Tesla also launched the new Model Y in the country on October 1, introducing minor feature improvements. Customer deliveries followed on October 15.
The Musk-led company employed multiple price increases in the world’s largest auto market in the past two months. However, most of these hikes were small, which seems just one of Tesla’s strategies to urge undecided customers to finally place orders.
Then, Tesla offered customers of “already produced” Model 3 and Y RWD variants an RMB 8,000 insurance subsidy on November 28, assuming they received delivery before December 31.
Tesla also announced a limited-time offer with annual rates as low as 2.75% for 3- and 5-year loans.
Competition
Chinese NEV giant BYD hit a record of 301,378 passenger vehicle sales in November, including its battery electrics and petrol-electric hybrid models. Notably, it represents a 0.09% MoM and 31% YoY growth.
Li Auto announced plans last month to kick off its mass production and delivery of its inaugural all-electric model in February 2024.
Tech giant Xiaomi has also advanced to reach electric vehicle production, with BAIC Group now applying for government approval for their planned two Xiaomi-branded electric vehicles.
Despite the year-on-year sales drop in the Chinese market, Tesla remains the leader in the all-electric vehicle segment. BYD’s high sales figure is unsurprising, given that its portfolio also includes hybrids, unlike Tesla.
Tesla aims to hit its self-set target of 1.8 million electric vehicle deliveries this year. According to The Street, the automaker still needs to achieve a Q4 2023 tally of about 477,000 to complete the 1.8 million units. It would be intriguing to witness if Tesla can truly achieve this goal.
