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Tesla’s China-Made EV Sales Fall 44% to Lowest in Five Months

Rival Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD and the budget-EV joint venture of General Motors in China both outsold the US carmaker


A Tesla car at a charging point in Beijing
Globally, the Elon Musk-led automaker missed its target of 50% annual growth in 2022. Photo: Reuters

 

Sales of Tesla’s China-made electric vehicles fell to their lowest level in five months, data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) showed on Thursday.

The US automaker delivered 55,796 China-made EVs last month, marking a 44% drop from November.

Tesla’s December sales were also 21% lower than a year earlier as the EV-maker reduced output and cut prices to deal with rising inventories amid weakening demand.

 

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The December data also marks the fewest monthly deliveries for Tesla since July when most of its production at its Shanghai Gigafactory was suspended due to an upgrade of its production lines.

For the whole of 2022, the automobile giant delivered 50% more vehicles produced in the Shanghai plant compared with 2021, the CPCA data showed.

Globally, the Elon Musk-led automaker saw an increase of 40% in deliveries in 2022, missing its target of 50% annual growth.

Tesla suspended production at its Shanghai plant, its most productive manufacturing hub, from December 24 to January 2 amid a spike in Covid cases across China. The move was also part of the carmaker’s effort to reduce output.

Chinese rival BYD still led all brands in China’s December EV sales with 234,598 electric cars including plug-in hybrids and pure EVs. That was more than quadruple Tesla’s sales in the same month, the CPCA data showed.

SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile Co, the joint venture of General Motors in China making small budget EVs, also outsold Tesla by 53%, according to the association.

 

  • Reuters with additional editing by Vishakha Saxena

 

Also read:

BYD Beats Tesla to be Top EV Seller in 2022 – SCMP

Tesla China Boss Sent to US to Fix Faltering Production

Korean Regulator Fines Tesla for Driving Range Omission

Foxconn to Use Nvidia Chips for Driverless Cars, EVs

 

 

Vishakha Saxena

Vishakha Saxena is the Multimedia and Social Media Editor at Asia Financial. She has worked as a digital journalist since 2013, and is an experienced writer and multimedia producer. As a trader and investor, she is keenly interested in new economy, emerging markets and the intersections of finance and society. You can write to her at [email protected]