GreenergyDaily
Mar. 10, 2025
1. It’s almost unthinkable, but Tesla Inc., the company that comes to mind when most people think about electric vehicles, may have had its best days in China, the world’s biggest and most advanced EV market, Bloomberg reported today.
2. Elon Musk’s automaker has been backsliding in China for the past five consecutive months on a year-on-year basis, according to data from the country’s Passenger Car Association. Tesla’s shipments plunged 49% in February from a year earlier to just 30,688 vehicles, the lowest monthly figure since way back in July 2022.
3. Tesla’s factory on the outskirts of Shanghai has had some of its production lines retooled for efficiency and to relaunch the popular Model Y, so it’s to be expected both that output dropped and will take some time to ramp back up. But even before that, the trend was heading in the wrong direction.
4. BYD has a market share heading toward 15%. It sold more than 318,000 fully electric and hybrid passenger vehicles last month, up 161% year-on-year. Its success is a major reason why Tesla is losing.
5. Both the Model Y and Model 3, the two vehicles Tesla makes in Shanghai, have only had their prices trimmed, rather than slashed, and buying one still costs around $33,500 on average.
6. BYD’s best-selling model this year in China, a sporty hatchback called the Song Plus, has had its sticker price reduced by between 8% to 18%. The most expensive Song Plus EV retails for around $21,000 — much cheaper than a Tesla.
7. Chinese carmakers have also significantly upped their game when it comes to localized software tailored to domestic driving conditions.
8. Tesla last month enabled driver-assistance capabilities in China similar to those marketed as Full Self-Driving, or FSD, in the US. The software will be switched on for customers who’ve paid 64,000 yuan ($8,800). Then again, that’s almost as much as what it would cost to buy an entire one of BYD’s cars.
9. For Tesla, a recalibration of its pricing strategies, both for its driver-assistance functions and the vehicles themselves, is paramount.
