SHANGHAI: It’s almost unthinkable, but Tesla Inc, the company that comes to mind when most people think about electric vehicles (EVs), may have had its best days in China, the world’s biggest and most advanced EV market.
Elon Musk’s automaker has been backsliding in China for the past five consecutive months on a year-on-year basis, according to data from the country’s Passenger Car Association.
Tesla’s shipments plunged 49% in February from a year earlier to just 30,688 vehicles, the lowest monthly figure since way back in July 2022, when it shipped just 28,217 EVs, and that was in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Tesla’s factory on the outskirts of Shanghai has had some of its production lines retooled for efficiency and to relaunch the popular Model Y, so it’s to be expected that both that output dropped and will take some time to ramp back up.
But even before that, the trend was heading in the wrong direction. Most carmakers’ trend lines are sloping down, not up, especially the international ones.
Then there’s Build Your Dreams (BYD) Co. The company, which stopped making cars powered entirely by internal combustion engines in March 2022, has a market share heading toward 15%.
It sold more than 318,000 fully electric and hybrid passenger vehicles last month, up 161% year-on-year.
The Shenzhen-based carmaker also notched another record month for overseas sales, which hit 67,025 units. Its success is a major reason why Tesla is losing.
Tesla sales in other parts of the world are cratering as Musk wades deeper into politics. Sales in Germany plunged 76% to only 1,429 cars last month, even as overall EV registrations jumped in China.
Disappointing shipments have more to do with a narrow and dated lineup, particularly in the face of up-to-date and more exciting offerings from BYD and others.
Year-end data place Tesla’s share of domestic sales at 2.6%, the lowest in 12 months, according to figures compiled by the China Automotive Technology and Research Centre. — Bloomberg
