SUPPLIES MADE IN CHINA TESLA TO LOCAL MARKET COLLAPSED BY 69%

 

Tesla cut the supply of electric vehicles assembled in China to the local market by 69% in July. At the same time, the pace of production remained practically unchanged: most of the cars were exported.

Tesla delivered a total of 8,621 electric vehicles produced at the Shanghai plant to the domestic market in China in July: this is a 69% drop from June's result, Bloomberg wrote, citing statistics from the China Association of Passenger Cars. Tesla launched 28,138 vehicles on the Chinese market in June.

 

At the same time, the number of exported electric vehicles has sharply increased: if in June 5,017 cars went abroad, then in July - at once 24,347 units and most of them went to Europe. Thus, the total volume of supplies for the month remained almost unchanged - it decreased by only 0.6% compared to June, Bloomberg noted.

 

Tesla opened a factory in Shanghai in January 2020, and the company's CEO and billionaire Elon Musk F danced at the opening ceremony. The plant was worth $ 2 billion and began supplying cars just 357 days after construction began, Reuters noted. The factory in China is Tesla's first outside the United States. In China, Tesla was the only foreign car brand to be allowed full ownership of local production.

 

Recently, several troubles have happened with Tesla in China, and they could affect the company's results in the country, Bloomberg wrote. At the end of June, the government demanded the recall of almost all cars sold in the country - more than 285,000 units - to correct the security problem. In May, a Tesla car in China was involved in an accident that killed one police officer and injured another. In March, China banned Tesla parking on military bases for fears that video cameras on cars could collect classified information and reveal the location of military facilities. Musk personally had to reassure the authorities that Tesla cars could be used for espionage. In May, sources told Reuters that Tesla had decided not to expand production in Shanghai for now due to tensions between the US and China.

 

Another reason for the decline in supply is competition: Tesla has to compete with local startups in China. Li Auto delivered 8,589 vehicles in July, Xpeng sold 8,040 units and Nio sold 7,931 units, Bloomberg cited figures. For the first time, the results of local manufacturers in a month were at the level of Tesla, the agency noted. Tesla said that, in addition to Europe, its cars from China are also shipped to Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Hong Kong, it added.

 

However, Barrons magazine, which publishes the Dow Jones & Company, noted that a similar decline in shipments to China and an increase in exports were in April - the first month of the second quarter. Barrons suggested that Tesla exports more at the beginning of the quarter and switches to the domestic market by the end of the quarter. Therefore, investors do not react to statistics from China, the magazine added. Reuters wrote about the same.

 

On Monday, it became known that Tesla has postponed the release of its futuristic Cybertruck pickup until 2022. Musk said in July that sales of a pickup truck could fail due to unusual design: “I don't care. I love him, even if others don't like him, ”the billionaire noted then.