Tesla China Sales For February Rise 13% To 74,402 Units

At least for the time being, the price cuts over at Tesla appear to still be working. That’s because the company’s total shipment of vehicles from China increased 13% sequentially in February, to 74,402 units, according to preliminary data released by China’s Passenger Car Association.

Tesla shares are up almost 2% in pre-market trading on the result. 

While Tesla was able to buck overall declining trends in China’s auto market over the last several months, in February it had the broader trend at its back. Bloomberg reported on Friday morning that China’s new energy passenger vehicle wholesales were up 30% sequentially.

Additionally, the note pointed out that competitor BYD also experienced significant growth in the month, with 193,655 unit sales versus just 88,283 the year prior. 

Tesla shares had slumped during the back half of this week, as the company’s mid-week investor day failed to provide enough short- and mid-term operational details to excite Wall Street. News outlets on Thursday morning called the presentation “underwhelming” and light on short-term specifics. 

Of note was the lack of specifics relating to how the company would be expanding its product lineup, which has begun to stagnate over the last several years. 

Recall we reported last month that the company’s strategy of cutting prices to stoke demand appeared to be working when the company sold 66,051 vehicles in China in January, up from 55,800 in December. 

At the time, the company was reportedly planning to increase output at its Shanghai plant – bringing its run rate back toward where it was in September 2022 – in order to continue meeting the demand from price cuts on its best selling models. 

Tesla had suspended operations at its Shanghai plant for a portion of December. The EV maker was expected to halt production – as we noted in a previous article – but continued swirling questions about demand had surfaced after the company shut down operations at the key location earlier than expected. Back on December 9th we wrote that the company was shutting down operations due to upgrades at the plant and waning consumer demand.