Tesla’s China sales have best month of the year in August

Tesla's China sales surge in August 2024, but still lag behind local rivals, despite recent improvements.

Tesla's sales in China logged their best month for the year so far in August 2024, with the U.S. electric vehicle maker benefiting from brisk sales in smaller cities.

Tesla said it sold more than 63,000 cars in the world's biggest auto market last month, a hefty 37% jump from July, but probably still down from August last year when it sold 64,694.

While an encouraging improvement, its performance lags major Chinese rivals by a wide margin.

BYD, the world's biggest EV maker, said its China passenger vehicle sales surged 35% in August from a year earlier to a record monthly high of 370,854. Other local electric vehicle (EV) competitors, including Leapmotor and Li Auto, also reported higher sales.

Like many other automakers, Tesla has been badly bruised by a protracted price war in China where economic growth has also been sluggish and consumer confidence fragile. Its China sales declined 5% for the first half of the year.

Although Tesla has cut its local sales force as part of a global downsizing, a number of factors have helped recent sales momentum. Tesla has since April offered zero-interest loans of up to five years for buyers, while several local governments have made its cars eligible for official car purchases in recent weeks.

It also received a key regulatory nod earlier this year, with the country's top auto industry association saying that data collection by Tesla vehicles was compliant with regulations, allowing Tesla cars to enter some government compounds that they used to be banned from.