China: Tesla MIC Sales Numbers In April 2021 Are Confusing

In April, Tesla exported more MIC Model 3/Model Y than it sold in China.

After record production and sales results in March, Tesla was expected to achieve also a strong April in China, especially since there were tons of new cars at the factory in Shanghai.

The initial reports from China were quite positive, as the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) data (via Moneyball‘s reports) indicates 25,845 Made-in-China (MIC) Model 3/Model Y sales in April and 14,174 units exported. That would be over 40,000 (40,019 to be precise).

* CPCA reports wholesale shipments, not registrations/deliveries.

However, according to the following reports, 25,845 is the total number, including export (14,174), which would mean that the sales in China stand at only 11,671.

Unofficially, the lower number of cars might be related to a pause at the production lines or shortage of some components:

Tesla sales results are quite interesting. Assuming 11,671 units in April, the company increased MIC sales in China by 221% year-over-year (from a low base of 3,635 in April 2020).

Additionally, the company achieved a higher export level of MIC cars than sales in China (14,174 vs 11,671).

Finally, more than 14,000 units exported is the highest electric car export for China:

Hopefully, we will learn what is happening in China later on. With the Model Y ramp-up, we are surprised with the result lower than in January or even in February.

With the export included in the wholesale sales results, Tesla must be behind not only SGMW (30,602 total) but also BYD (25,450 total).

NIO delivered 7,102 electric cars in April, while the Xpeng was at over 5,000. Upcoming months and hopefully more precise data will reveal whether the Chinese manufacturers are catching up with Tesla or it was just a one-off slowdown for Tesla.

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