Sales of Tesla's China-made EVs see dip in July. Here's why

Tesla, last month, sold about 28,217 China-made electric vehicles which is nearly two-thirds less than the sales figures of the preceding month as the EV company's Shanghai factory lines were up for a scheduled upgrade. Tesla exported about 19,756 Model 3 and Model Y EVs from China in July, informed the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA). While in June, Tesla sold 78,906 electric vehicles and exported about 968 units.

Tesla Shanghai manufacturing unit aims to produce around 22,000 units as a weekly output paused most of its production at the plant last month due to work on factory lines. Previously, the factory faced production loss during a two-month lockdown due to a surge in Covid-19 cases in Shanghai. This hurt Tesla's profit margin in the second quarter.

The CPCA informed that the country's overall passenger car sales in July increased by 20.1 per cent from a year earlier to 1.84 million. Sales of electric vehicles accounted for 26.4 per cent of the total numbers in July and registered an of increase 117.3 per cent. However, the body added that the sales of plug-in hybrids are more than pure electric cars. The association also expects that sales of electric cars for the entire year could touch six million units, higher than the previous estimation of 5.5 million.

Other EV manufacturers such as Nio, Xpeng and Li Auto delivered 10,052, 11,524 and 10,422 vehicles, respectively. Electric vehicle producer BYD delivered 1,63,042 cars last month with plug-in hybrids accounting for more than half of its sales. Sales of conventional hybrid cars in July also increased 81 per cent from a year ago, with Japan's Toyota Motor Corp and Honda Motor Co Ltd leading the segment.

(With inputs from Reuters)