Demand for Tesla Model 3 made in China grows

Piper Jaffray Companies (NYSE: PJC) is American multinational independent investment bank and financial services company focused on mergers and acquisitions, financial restructuring, public offerings, public finance, institutional brokerage, investment management and securities research.

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Piper Jaffray analyst Alexander Potter conducted a Tesla sales study in China. Tracking sales in China can often be opaque, but Potter believes that car insurance registration data shows that Tesla has high demand in a key market.

“Tesla’s deliveries to real, actual people are still rising at a triple-digit pace, despite being hamstrung by import duties, a flagging auto market, and a historical inability to tap EV subsidies,” Piper Jaffray analyst Alexander Potter.

Potter’s study found that electric car sales in China are increasingly carried out by unidentified “mysterious shoppers” and fleets. However, in sales to actual Chinese consumers, Pipper Jaffrey says Tesla is steadily increasing its market share.

Photo by Thomas Peter

According to company estimates, Tesla shipments in the third quarter - a closely watched indicator of the company's sales - in China grew by more than 175% compared to the same period last year. Potter noted that insurance registrations are an imperfect way of calculating Tesla's supply, but defended it as a method, saying that it still helps track demand.

Potter said that most of the growth in China is due to the cheaper model 3 of the company, and overall Piper Jaffrey is optimistic about the future of Tesla in China.

“Even in a market like China, where EV models are commonplace ... Teslas are among the only electric vehicles (EVs) that consumers actually want to buy,” - said Potter.

The lightning speed of building the Shanghai Gigafactory also has a positive effect.

“We think Tesla has been able to leverage lessons learned at Fremont and Gigafactory 1 to optimize the ramp of G3 in Shanghai; it took only ~9 months to construct, ahead of guidance, ” - said Baird analyst Ben Callot.

Callot also pointed out that the production of both vehicles and batter packs at the Shanghai plant will help limit any possible impact of the ongoing trade war on Tesla.

On November 7, Tesla announced the made in China Model 3 at its official Weibo. Media were invited to review the Tesla Model 3 made in China. Read it in our article "The first test of Made in China Model 3".  After that, the interest of buyers in Tesla model 3 made in China has dramatically increased.