Tesla Sales Of China-Made EVs Plunge 64% Sequentially In July — Domestic Sales Trail Local Players

Tesla, Inc.’s TSLA China July sales dipped notably from the record performance in June, according to final data from the China Passenger Car Association, Reuters reported.

What Happened: Tesla sold 28,217 Giga Shanghai-made cars in July, which was below the 30,000 preliminary data released by the agency last week. This represented a 64% month-over-month plunge from the 78,906 vehicles the company delivered in June. Sales declined by a more modest 14.4% drop from the year-ago period.

The U.S. EV giant shut down operations at the Giga Shanghai plant for about two weeks in the month for facility upgradation, Reuters reported earlier, citing an internal memo. This would serve to increase the weekly production rate from 17,000 units in July to 22,000 units, it added.

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Domestic Sales Trail Chinese Startups: The break-up of July number showed that the company exported 19,756 units of Model 3 and Model Y vehicles, a considerable bump up from the 968 units exported in June. Tesla is in the habit of focusing on exports in the first half of the quarter before beginning to produce for the domestic market.

Domestic China sales, therefore, came in at 8,461 units. This trailed the sales pace of Chinese EV startups. Nio, Inc. NIO, XPeng, Inc. XPEV and Li Auto, Inc. LI in July delivered 10,052 units, 11,524 units and 10,422 units, respectively.

Warren Buffett-backed BYD Company Limited BYDDF BYDDY stood out with battery EV sales of 80,991 units in July.

Price Action: Tesla closed Monday’s session 0.78% higher at $871.27, according to Benzinga Pro data.