Tesla has been selling a lot of Model 3 sedans and Model Y SUVs in China in March, as newly released insurance registration data shows over 17,000 were registered last week alone.
According to the data a total of 17,032 Teslas were registered between March 6 and March 12, an increase of 28% compared to the 13,266 units registered in the previous week. The Model Y continues to be the more popular choice among Chinese consumers with 11,336 of those registrations being of the electric SUV, with the remaining 5,696 going to the Model 3.
Tesla MIC weekly insured units
✴️6-12 Mar: 17,032
(一路向北BYD microblog) https://t.co/SzECjkx0Hg— Moneyball (@MoneybaII_R) March 14, 2023
This latest data continues a trend over the past several weeks in which Tesla insurance registrations have been on a steep upward trend. During the week of February 6 to February 12 just 6,963 units registered, a number lower than expected largely due to the Chinese Lunar New Year Holiday. Despite that lower than expected number Tesla still ended February with over 74,000 sales.
The insurance registrations are also near some of the automaker’s all-time highs. The last time the figures were this high was six months ago when 23,109 units were registered during the week of September 19 to September 25.
With the strong performance so far in March Tesla looks to have sold over 30,000 cars in China, with still more than half the month to go. If this trend continues for the final two weeks Tesla could end March with around 60,000 sales. That would be domestic sales only and not the typical wholesale number reported each month which includes cars exported to other markets.
Tesla has started 2023 off on the right foot. In the first two months of the year Tesla has accumulated 140,453 sales from Giga Shanghai, a figure that is over 20% higher than at the same point last year. If Giga Shanghai is able to maintain this pace over the remaining 10 months of the year the Tesla China team will end 2023 with nearly 850,000 sales, exceeding its 2022 total which stood at 710,865 units.
