There’s a general belief that Tesla has been having issues penetrating the Chinese auto market, which is now the most important auto market in the world, but the sales numbers are telling a different story.
Early on, Tesla’s sales in the market were slow, but the electric automaker grew extremely fast in China.
In 2017, Tesla made over $2 billion in China – doubling its sales and expanding its retail presence and charging infrastructure.
However, things started to become more difficult in the second half of 2018 as the trade war between the US and China started to ramp up.
There have been reports that Tesla’s sales dropped significantly in the second half of last year.
But Tesla is still showing growth in 2019.
In a new filing with the SEC following the release of its second-quarter results, Tesla revealed that it grew over 40% during the first six months of 2019:
With the release of the Model 3, Tesla is showing growth in all markets, but China and Norway are the two most important markets for Tesla outside of the US.
In order to continue growing in China going forward, Tesla is betting on its Gigafactory that’s under construction in Shanghai.
Gigafactory 3 is Tesla’s first manufacturing facility in China and it’s also the first electric vehicle factory wholly-owned by a foreign automaker in the country.
The automaker is trying to start production by the end of the year and quickly ramp up to 3,000 units per week.
Last week, Tesla released the first pictures from inside Gigafactory 3 — showing impressive progress.
The Model 3 vehicles coming out of Ggiafactory 3 are not going to be subject to the same import tariffs that buyers have to pay for Tesla’s current US cars coming to China.
Earlier this year, Tesla announced that its made-in-China Model 3 is starting at the equivalent of ~$47,500.
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