The Chinese turn their backs on Tesla. July data from the Chinese auto market highlights a sboom in Tesla model deliveries in China and the Elon Musk giant begins to feel the breath on the neck of Chinese rivals. Now it will be verified whether the misstep will only be temporary or will persist in the coming months.
Tesla sold 32,968 vehicles manufactured in China in July, including those intended for export, broadly in line with the previous month (-0.6%). But what stands out from the data released today by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) is that the world leader in electric cars, which produces Model 3 sedans and the Model Y sports car in Shanghai, has highlighted a slump in electric car deliveries. destined for the Chinese market, which were just 8,621 units, down 69% since June, when the Tesla plant in Shanghai had shipped 28,138 cars to the local market. Exports, on the other hand, jumped to 24,347 versus 5,017, with most of those vehicles destined for Europe.
The possible reasons for the turnaround in July
The drastic drop in deliveries in China is due to the negative publicity that targeted the Elon Musk giant and culminated in the maxi-recall of almost 300 thousand models that the company has sold in the country.
Among the possible reasons for the collapse may also have been the announcement of the cheaper version of the Model Y crossover built locally, which may have caused some customers to delay their purchase in view of the arrival on the market of the new model, whose delivery will start in the coming months. The standard version will start at 276,000 yuan ($ 42,600) net of government subsidies, about 20% less than the original long-range Model Y.
NIO and the others never so close to Elon Musk’s colossus
On the Chinese market, Elon Musk’s giant has to deal with fierce competition from local electric vehicle startups led by Nio, Xpeng Inc. and Li Auto, with the latter having just raised $ 1.5 billion in its listing in Hong Kong. Li Auto also led car deliveries among the three EV players with 8,589 vehicles sold in July, while Xpeng sold 8,040 vehicles last month and Nio just under (7,931). Numbers that for the first time are close to those recorded by Tesla.
Overall, auto sales in China fell 6.4% in July to 1.52 million units. In contrast, once again the sales of green vehicles (electric cars and plug-in hybrids) which increased by almost 170% compared to the previous year to 222,000 units with BYD in the front row with over 50,000 models sold.