Photo: Wu Wa/YouTube
Tesla Giga Shanghai continues to ramp up production, aiming to produce 450,000 vehicles per year by the end of 2021. Although Tesla's domestic sales in July were relatively weak due to production for overseas markets, the general secretary of the China Passenger Car Association says they will be about 30,000 units by September.
According to the China Passenger Car Association, Tesla's sales in the Chinese market were 8,621 vehicles in July, while 28,138 vehicles were produced for export. Although the media used this information to point out the supposed low demand for Tesla vehicles in China, low demand was not the case.
Cui Dongshu, the general secretary of the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA), also confirms that Tesla is trying to balance supply between China and other countries, as Giga Shanghai is the company's export hub. “Tesla's sales drop in the Chinese market was because it needs to ensure adequate supplies abroad where the demand was huge,” he told the Global Times.
Due to the high demand in the North American market, all cars produced at the Fremont factory now are sold there. In parallel with this, the start of production of Giga Berlin has not yet begun, due to the lack of a final environmental building permit. This led to huge, pent-up demand in the European market, so Tesla was forced to satisfy it with cars produced at Giga Shanghai.
High deliveries to the European market also do not mean that the Chinese market is less important to Tesla. Dongshu is confident that China remains one of the most important markets in the world for them. He expects domestic sales in August and September to hit record highs of 30,000. "Sales in China are expected to rebound sharply in August, greatly exceeding that of July, and could reach a record 30,000 by September."
© 2021, Eva Fox. All rights reserved.
_____________________________
We appreciate your readership! Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
Article edited by @SmokeyShorts, you can follow him on Twitter
About the Author
Eva Fox
Eva Fox joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover breaking news as an automotive journalist. The main topics that she covers are clean energy and electric vehicles. As a journalist, Eva is specialized in Tesla and topics related to the work and development of the company.
