Tesla China has been on a tear so far in 2023, accounting for more than half of the automaker’s total deliveries in the first six months of the year. When it comes to domestic deliveries in China, Tesla had a near record month in June, while exports predictably dropped in the final month of the quarter.
According to the latest data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) Tesla delivered 74,212 vehicles in China last month. This figure represents a massive 75% jump compared to May, when Tesla delivered 42,508 new Model 3 and Model Y cars in the country. This figure is also just shy of the monthly domestic delivery record for 2023, which was set in March at 76,663 new vehicles. (via CNEvPost)
If you know about Giga Shanghai’s production cycles, the figures make sense. As CEO Elon Musk has previously explained, Tesla prioritizes production in the first half of a quarter for exports, while production in the second half is prioritized for domestic deliveries. Both March and June were the final months of Q1 and Q2, and therefore should have the highest domestic delivery figures.
Conversely, exports in the final month of the quarter should also be at their lowest, and this was again the case in June. CPCA data shows Tesla exported 19,468 vehicles to other markets last month, including Canada. As expected this was a 46% and 45% drop compared to April and May, but it was still 60% higher than what Tesla exported in March (12,206), the final month of Q1.
As previously highlighted, Tesla China has made an exceptionally strong start in 2023. In the first six months, the automaker sold over 475,000 car built at Giga Shanghai. That was more than half of Tesla’s 889,000 global deliveries, which came from three different factories – Fremont, Giga Texas, and Giga Berlin.
