Tesla slams it out of park in China, sells 130 EVs per hour in December first week
- Tesla sells close to 22,000 EVs in the first seven days of December and is looking at bettering its record November performance.
Tesla registered a solid performance in China by selling 21,900 electric vehicle models in the first week of the ongoing month. This is the highest weekly sales in the fourth quarter of 2024 and puts the US automaker in a strong position to finish the calendar year on a meteoric high.
Tesla usually does not reveal weekly sales figures in any market anywhere in the world. But its December first-week performance in China comes as a major shot in the arm in the world's largest automobile market and is also significant because November had been its best-ever month here with sales exceeding 73,000. Will December be even better?
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Why is Chinese market crucial for Tesla?
The Chinese market provides a wide array of opportunities to carmakers but also has several significant challenges. While the rise in demand for EVs here had tapered at the start of 2024, it now appears to be back on track. But competition has also increased manifold with global players having to compete not only against a long list of local manufacturers but a new bunch of rivals like Xiaomi as well.
For Tesla's ambitions of absolute global dominance, a strong performance in China is absolutely essential. CEO Elon Musk is looking at completing 1.80 million deliveries worldwide and to achieve this record figure, the Chinese market will have to contribute big time.
The persisting ache for Tesla, especially in China, has been that the company really has no new models to fight rivals like BYD with. The likes of Model 3 and Model Y remain enormously popular but both are dated while the Cybertruck is a comparatively pricey option.
The other pain point is that Tesla's exports from its factory in Shanghai in November fell by 81 per cent to 5,366 units from 27,795 units in October. The company had explained this by stating that its focus in China is to produce for exports in the first half of the year and for the domestic market in the next half.
But its overall performance in November and continued momentum in December is likely to hold Tesla in good stead.
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