China: Tesla EV Retail Sales And Exports Were Balanced In April 2023
Local sales were higher than exports, which is a rare thing in the first month of a quarter.
Tesla sales of Made-in-China (MIC) Model 3/Model Y in China and exports from China were surprisingly balanced in April.
According to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA)'s data, the overall wholesale vehicle shipments (local retail sales and exports) of Made-in-China (MIC) Model 3/Model Y amounted to 75,842 units (up from 1,512 in April 2022, when there was a lockdown).
* CPCA reports wholesale shipments, not registrations/customer deliveries.
It's a result in-line with the year-to-date average of over 76,000 units a month.
During the first four months of the year, the total wholesale sales amounted to over 305,000, which is 66 percent more than a year ago at this point.
Retail Sales in China
Last month, the company's local sales in China amounted to 39,956 MIC cars (compared to 1,512 units a year ago). That's the best result in the first month of a quarter so far.
Tesla MIC retail sales in China are usually the highest in the final month of a quarter (the first half of a quarter is usually focused on export).
So far this year, Tesla sold locally more than 177,000 MIC electric cars in China, which is 61 percent more than a year ago. In other words, the volume continues to increase after the price reduction was applied in January.
Export
According to the report, last month, 35,886 Tesla MIC cars were exported (compared to zero a year ago, when there were lockdown issues).
Exports never were higher in April, but an interesting thing is that it's lower than in the first months of previous quarters (January and October).
Tesla usually exports the highest number of cars in the first month of a quarter, and then a substantial number of cars also in the second month of a quarter.
So far this year, Tesla exported more than 127,000 MIC cars from China, which is 73 percent more than a year ago.
Models
Tesla produces in Shanghai two MIC models - Model 3 and Model Y (both in various versions). In April, the Tesla Model 3 wholesale (retail sales in China plus export) amounted to 26,783, while the Tesla Model Y amounted to 49,059.
The local retail sales are not yet released (the charts below are up to March).
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