Tesla Delivers 76,965 Vehicles In China For August After Shanghai Resumes Normal Production

As parts of China continue to lock down to fight Covid and as U.S. tensions with both China and Russia continue to rise, it looks as though Tesla is officially back on track in in the country…at least for the time being. 

The automaker delivers 76,965 China-made vehicles in August, which was up 172.8% from the month prior. Data from the China Passenger Car Association shows that the automaker sold 34,502 cars in China and exported 42,463 vehicles. 

The numbers come even as battery maker CATL had to shut down part of its operations due to power restriction constraints during the month, Reuters reported. CATL’s Yibin plant supplies battery cells to Tesla Shanghai. 

The stark difference in month-over-month numbers comes as China’s Shanghai plant was down for a planned upgrade for most of July. Recall, deliveries in China had crashed -64.2% heading into the month of August. 

We noted then that if the trend continued into August, there would be cause for alarm, but August’s numbers look as though the planned shutdowns are finally in the past. Production was halted to upgrade the factory’s Model 3 and Model Y lines.

Bookending the shut down, June was a banner production month for Tesla. The company sold about 78,000 China-made cars in June, up 142% from May.

Overall passenger car sales were up 28.4% in August, the CPCA noted. EV sales in China have been on the rebound since the government has reembraced subsidies and tax breaks, which it previously had planned on phasing out.  

Chinese exports overall rose 77.5% last month, with 28% of those exports coming from electric vehicles.