Tesla China Sales Lag Warren Buffett-Backed Rival By 44% In October: Analyst Says There's Something To Cheer About Anyway

Tesla Inc. TSLA sales slowed slightly in October from the previous month’s record performance.

What Happened: Tesla sold 71,704 made-in-China, or MIC, cars in October, down 13.8% from 83,135 cars sold in September, preliminary data from China Passenger Car Association showed, according to Reuters.

On a year-over-year basis, MIC sales climbed 31.83% from the year-ago period’s 54,391 units.

See Also: Tesla's 'Peak China Dependency' Could Be Over Within A Year, Analyst Says: Here's Why

The performance comes amid fears that demand is slowing in China due to domestic economic softening and stringent COVID-19 restrictions.

Tesla China reduced prices of its Giga Shanghai-made cars by about 5% in late October, partly reversing a string of price hikes it announced earlier this year.

MIC sales, nevertheless, were the highest first-month sales of any quarter, Future Funds' Gary Black said. The fund manager expects the split to be 21,700 domestic sales and 50,000 exports. The price cut would have had only one week of impact on domestic sales, Black added.

Why It’s Important: Tesla’s sales pale before the numbers reported by Warren Buffett-backed Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD Manufacturing Company Limited BYDDY.

BYD reported battery EV sales of 103,157 units in October, about 44% more than Tesla.

The Chinese EV trio of Nio Inc. NIO, XPeng Inc. XPEV and Li Auto Inc. LI reported October deliveries of 10,059, 5,101 and 10,052 units, respectively.

Price Action: Tesla closed Thursday’s session 0.15% higher at $215.31, according to Benzinga Pro data.

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