Tesla sells 74,073 China-made vehicles in September 2023

Beijing (Gasgoo)- In September 2023, the US electric vehicle maker Tesla sold a total of 74,073 China-made vehicles via wholesale, according to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).

In September, Tesla was challenged with a 11.98% month-on-month decline and a 10.9% year-on-year dip in monthly wholesale volume of China-made vehicles.

Specifically, wholesale volume of the Model Y came in at 53,249 units, which ranked second-best in sales among other passenger vehicle models in China last month, following the BYD Song (62,840 units). Meanwhile, the Model 3 was sold by 20,824 units in September.

In the past month, Tesla saw 30,566 Shanghai-made vehicles set sail to overseas markets, which accounted for roughly 41.26% of the automaker’s total monthly wholesale volume. 

In the first nine months of this year, the cumulative wholesale volume of China-made Tesla vehicles summed up to 699,056 vehicles, representing a 44.71% leap over that of a year ago. Among which, 265,327 units were shipped to overseas markets.

Regarding performance of the entire new energy passenger vehicle (NEPV) industry, last month, China’s NEPV wholesale volume stood at roughly 829,000 vehicles, jumping 23% year over year while rising 4.2% month over month. From January to September, there were a total of 5.904 million NEPVs sold via wholesale, zooming up 36% from the year-ago period.

NEPVs accounted for 49.9% of Chinese indigenous brands’ total passenger vehicle (PV) wholesale volume in September, while wholesale volume of luxury brands showcased a 31.1% NEPV penetration rate. In contrast, mainstream joint-venture brands fall behind, with a mere 5.8% of its monthly sales composed by NEPVs.

Photo credit: Tesla

Notably, among the 26 vehicle models whose September wholesale volume surpassed 20,000 units, 11 of which were NEPVs, including the top six models in sales. The top six models were successively the BYD Song (62,840 units), the Tesla Model Y (53,249 units), the BYD Qin (45,072 units), the BYD Seagull (40,092 units), the BYD Dolphin (32,927 units), and the BYD Yuan (32,856 units).

On the other hand, China’s PV export volume (including complete vehicles and CKD) reached about 357,000 units in September, spiking 50% year over year while increasing 8% month over month. Of the vehicles shipped overseas in the last month, around 91,000 units were NEPVs, more than doubled from that of a year ago (+107% YoY) and climbed up 16% from the previous month. According to the CPCA, NEPV made up for about 25.4% of China’s total PV export in the month. The top two exporters of NEPVs in September were Tesla China (30,566 units) and BYD (28,039 units).