US AUTOMAKER Tesla sold 62,167 China-made electric vehicles in April, down 18 per cent from a year earlier, China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) data showed on Tuesday (May 7).
Deliveries of China-made Model 3 and Model Y vehicles slid 30.2 per cent from March.
Tesla’s China-made cars are also exported to various markets including Europe and the CPCA didn’t provide a breakdown of Tesla exports by destination. Tuesday’s numbers are a prelude of full data for April due out later this week.
The sharp slide contrasts with rising EV sales in the world’s largest auto market, albeit at the slowest pace in a year in the first quarter, amid slowing demand and a ferocious price war.
China’s new-energy vehicle sales including battery-powered EVs and plug-in hybrids were estimated to hit 800,000 units in April, up 33 per cent on the year and a 2 per cent drop from the month before, according to CPCA data.
Tesla’s biggest Chinese rival BYD, with its Dynasty and Ocean lineups of EVs and plug-in hybrids, sold 312,048 passenger vehicles in April, up 48.97 per cent year-on-year and a 3.5 per cent increase from March.
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Tesla saw first-quarter vehicle deliveries fall for the first time in nearly four years. The company began the second quarter announcing layoffs of more than 10 per cent of its global workforce and slashing vehicle prices in major markets including the US, China and Europe.
Tesla’s deliveries of China-made EVs skidded 19 per cent year-on-year in February before edging up 0.2 per cent in March, but the decline in tandem with a 25 per cent slide in overall EV sales in China in February was partly due to shifted timings of the Chinese New Year that fell in February this year instead of January. REUTERS
