In April, Tesla, a U.S. car company, sold 62,167 electric vehicles made in China. This is 18% less than last year. While the Chinese electric car market is growing, Tesla’s sales are dropping. This news caused Tesla’s stock to fall by 3.8% on Tuesday.
Most of the cars Tesla sold in China are also exported to other countries like Europe. However, we don’t know how many went where because the China Passenger Car Association didn’t give that information. More data about April’s sales will come out later this week.
Sales of Tesla’s Model 3 and Model Y made in China dropped by 30.2% from March. This is different from the general trend in China, where electric car sales are increasing, although not as fast as before.
Another Chinese electric car company, BYD, had better luck. They sold over 300,000 cars in April, almost 50% more than last year.
Tesla, led by Elon Musk, had a rough first quarter this year. Their global car deliveries went down for the first time in almost four years. In China, their sales dropped by 4% from last year during the first three months.
In April, Elon Musk visited China to talk about adding more features to Tesla cars. This might help them compete better with local brands.
Meanwhile, in Germany, Tesla’s factory in Gruenheide will shut down for four days because of protests against its expansion plans. Workers will stay home on Friday, and production will stop until Sunday night. This pause comes after local citizens voted against cutting down trees to make space for the factory to grow. There are more protests planned for the coming week.
