In December, Tesla noted a decrease in wholesale vehicle shipments in China (local sales and export).
According to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA)’s data, last month the total Made-in-China (MIC) Tesla volume amounted to 55,796 units. That’s 21 percent less than a year ago (70,847) and significantly less than in November (100,291).
* CPCA reports wholesale shipments, not registrations/customer deliveries.
We guess that a production break in the last days of December, probably combined with limited local demand (indicated by short delivery times and various incentives introduced by the manufacturer), were the main reasons behind the result. Let’s note that in January, another production break is expected, according to Reuters.
We thought that December would be stronger, but it’s not that bad either. During the fourth quarter, Tesla noted almost 228,000 units sold locally in China or exported, which is 28 percent more than in Q4 2021.
Also, the 2022 total result is very good at 710,865 – over 50 percent more than in 2021.
The cumulative wholesale shipments from the Tesla Giga Shanghai plant are estimated at over 1.32 million units (since January 2020) and the current plant capacity might be above 1 million units per year.
We are still waiting for more Tesla sales data for the month of December, concerning local sales and export numbers, as well as sales of individual models (Model 3 and Model Y).
Below we attached charts with results up to November 2022.
Local retail sales in China through November 2022 – over 397,000 MIC electric cars (up 59 percent year-over-year).
Export from China through November 2022 – over 257,000 Tesla MIC cars (up 69 percent year-over-year). Mostly to Europe, we guess.
Tesla offers two MIC models – Model 3 and Model Y (both in various versions). The Tesla Model 3 and Model Y retail sales in China, through November 2022, amounted to respectively 112,478 (down 7 percent year-over-year) and 286,334 (up 121 percent year-over-year).
