Tesla's China Orders Fall Almost 50% in May

After the release of the Model Y in China in January 2021, Tesla Inc TSLA saw a huge increase in vehicle orders. Tesla actually sold out of the entire first quarter supply of Model Y a few days after orders were allowed in the country. 

But at the Shanghai Auto Show in April, a protestor claimed her Tesla's brakes failed, causing an accident and Tesla refused to communicate to fix the issue. A video of the protestor went viral, leading to fears Tesla's China demand may be in trouble due to the poor sentiment caused by the protestor. 

Although the protestor's claims were challenged by Tesla, it seems the stunt may have had an effect. The Information shared that according to insider data, Tesla had more than 18,000 vehicle orders in April, compared to about 9,800 orders in May, a drop of almost 50%. There were 21,000 net orders in March.

Tesla's stock did not react well, with shares falling almost 5% at time of publication.

Tesla's Gigafactory Shanghai has been aggressively ramping up production to meet the demand of the Chinese market. Tesla also exports these vehicles to Australia and parts of Europe, at least until Gigafactory Berlin is online to service the European market. 

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(Photo courtesy of Tesla.)