Tesla's China Factory Exports 73% of July Sales

Before Gigafactory Shanghai started producing Tesla Inc TSLA vehicles at the end of 2019, all of the company's cars delivered worldwide came from Tesla's factory in Fremont, California.

While initially, it seemed Gigafactory Shanghai would supply China only, news broke in September 2020 that the factory would start exporting cars to other parts of the world. 

Now Teslarati shared information that 73% of Shanghai's July sales have been exported from China. Tesla sold 32,968 made in China vehicles in July, with 24,347 exported to Australia and parts of Europe. Of these sales, 16,137 were Model 3 and 8,210 were Model Y. Europe is poised to see its first Model Y deliveries this quarter, which lines up with these export numbers.

Total Gigafactory Shanghai sales for July were down slightly compared to June, which saw sales of 33,155. But because of the high percentage of exported vehicles, China deliveries were down significantly with a 68% decrease.

Benzinga's Take: While the initial plan was for Gigafactory Shanghai to supply vehicles to China according to CEO Elon Musk, it seems the factory is best used to ship Model 3 and Y vehicles internationally.

Another reason for exports to Europe could be the delay of Gigafactory Berlin, which was originally planned to start initial production in July 2021.

Photo of Gigafactory Shanghai courtesy of Tesla