The Tesla Model Y was the best selling premium SUV in China last year, even when including those with internal combustion engines (ICE) in the statistics.
According to data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA), a total of 169,853 Model Ys were sold from January to December.
The BMW X3 came in a distant second place more than 20,000 units behind with 149,742 sales.
Interestingly, the BMW X3 was actually in the lead heading into December, almost exactly 10,000 units ahead of the Model Y (139,328 vs 129,353).
Thanks to a strong December with 40,500 Model Y sales compared to just 10,414 for the X3, Tesla was able to easily take the best-selling crown from the German automaker.
Adding to the accolades, the 40,500 sales was also enough for the Model Y to be the best selling premium SUV in China in the month of December, and by a considerable margin.
Since 2021 was the first year the Model Y was available in China, we don’t have a year-over-year (YoY) comparison to make, but trends from others show the growing popularity of electric SUVs in China.
There were two other electric SUVs in the top 10 category for 2021, and both saw impressive growth. The Li Auto ONE and NIO ES6 saw sales increase 177.4% and 48.4% respectively.
The closest gas-powered premium SUV was the BMW X3, which saw sales grow just 11.6%.
These numbers should only widen in 2022. Tesla is spending $188 million to expand their production capacity at Giga Shanghai. They will do so by focusing on increasing the hours of production, increasing the number of employees at the factory, as well as increasing their supply chain turnover rate.
Tesla to spend $188 million to expand Giga Shanghai production capacity
h/t: CnEVPost
