Tesla's Chinese performance in 2014 fail to live up to expectations

Gasgoo.com (Shanghai January 22) - At the Detroit Motor Show, Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk revealed that he manufacturer’s sales in China last year failed to live up to expectations. Mr. Musk attributes the poor performance to lack of brand recognition and poor knowledge of Tesla’s unique charging technology. In order to combat this problem Tesla has plans to boost production capacity, which include building an automobile factory in the country. The news implies that Tesla is looking for a local partner to cooperate with.

While many other manufacturers are also dealing with the issue of lacking a Chinese partner to aid them in the country, Tesla’s problems stem from its unique position as a niche manufacturer. Its position is only worsened as more and more manufacturers, like BMW, continue to release their own electric vehicle products.

Tesla originally planned for its total global sales volume in 2014 to be between 460,000 and 480,000 vehicles, with 140,000 to 170,000 of those sales coming from the Chinese market. However, Tesla ultimately only managed to export around 4,000 vehicles to the country over the first ten months of the year, with only 1,600 of those being registered for use.

“Tesla’s biggest problem in China is how to maintain consumer in test in the brand,” Tian Yongqiu, an industry analyst, stated in an interview. In order to help with its image in the country, Tesla has announced plans to develop charging stations in China. Whether or not Tesla can succeed in revolutionizing the Chinese automobile market remains to be seen.