Tesla (TSLA) slows down in China despite new Model Y production

Tesla (TSLA) sales and exports slowed down in China in April despite the automaker ramping up production of the new Model Y, which Tesla blamed for its poor Q1 performance.

China has released official passenger car domestic sales and exports.

The release confirmed that Tesla sold 28,731 cars in China in April, down 8.6% year-on-year.

Tesla also exported 29,728 vehicles, down 3.3% year-over-year.

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Here are Tesla’s monthly retail and export numbers in China trending over the last 3 years:

As you can see, Tesla was way down in Q1 2025 compared to the same period over the last 2 years, but the automaker blamed it on the Model Y production changeover.

It certainly had an impact, but Electrek previously reported that Tesla quickly discounted vehicles in China despite benefiting from the launch of the updated Model Y – pointing to deliveries being lower due to demand on top of the limited Model Y supply in the first quarter.

Now, Tesla is reportedly back to normal in April and yet, both domestic deliveries and exports are down compared to April 2024, which was itself already significantly down from 2023.

Electrek’s Take

Tesla is having its worst start of the year (Jan-Apr) in three years in China despite having higher incentives and bigger discounts than ever.

The automaker is slowly being squeezed out of the Chinese market due to competition. Tesla’s brand damage is having an impact on US and European sales due to Elon Musk, but that’s not the case in China.

Competition is just brutal. Chinese automakers have long taken the lead on price, but they are also now catching up and surpassing Western automakers on quality and performance.

First, Model 3 had the most competition, which gave Tesla some room to breath since Model Y is its best-seller, but now competition is also coming for the new Model Y.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see a sharper decline in Tesla sales in China in the coming months.