The American manufacturer of electric vehicles Tesla sold 70,847 Chinese-made vehicles in December, the highest monthly rate since it began producing in Shanghai in 2019, data from the China Passenger Vehicle Association (CPCA).
December sales Tesla, which include 245 units for export, were almost three times more than those achieved in the same month last year and 34% more than those of November.
In addition, it raised total sales of cars made in China last year to 473,078, according to Reuters calculations. This is about half of the 936,000 vehicles the automaker delivered worldwide last year.
Factory Tesla in Shanghai, which began delivering vehicles at the end of 2019, produces the electric sedans Model 3 and sport utility vehicles Model Y for domestic and international markets, including Germany and Japan.
The firm, which has been able to overcome supply chain woes suffered by rivals to record record quarterly deliveries, said during its third-quarter results in October that Shanghai’s potential annual production exceeded 450,000 vehicles.
Tu Le, Managing Director of Beijing-based Sino Auto Insights, said December figures showed that the Tesla brand in China is still going strong and that it was also operationally “impressive” given that the Shanghai factory has the capacity to make a few. 42,000 vehicles per month on average.
“They were well above that figure in December. And this despite the shortage of chips and batteries suffered by other manufacturers of electric vehicles,” he added.
The Chinese market for electric vehicles is dominated by national brands such as WORLD Y Wuling, a local brand that is part of General Motors. Tesla is the only foreign brand in the top 10, according to Shanghai-based consultancy Automobility.
CPCA said December passenger vehicle sales in China totaled 2.14 million, down 7.7% from the previous year.