Tesla (TSLA) breaks record in China, resulting in massive delivery expectation beat

Tesla has achieved an impressive new delivery record in China, which has greatly contributed to the automaker’s massive delivery expectation beat last quarter.

When Tesla announced that it delivered a new record of 241,300 electric cars last quarter, 20,000 more than analysts were expecting, it was clear that great performance from Tesla in China had to be behind the new record.

CEO Elon Musk basically confirmed it a few days later during Tesla’s shareholders meeting when he announced that Gigafactory Shanghai has now surpassed Tesla Fremont Factory in vehicle production output.

But now we have the official numbers confirming Tesla’s performance in China.

The China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) confirmed on Tuesday that Tesla China sold 56,006 electric vehicles in September.

That’s a new record – beating the one achieved just the month prior.

Just short of 4,000 of those 56,000 made-in-China Tesla vehicles were exported.

In August, Tesla China achieved sales of 44,264 electric vehicles, and in July, the automaker sold 32,968 electric cars from China.

However, most of those sales from August and July were for exportations to other markets.

In total, 133,238 vehicles or 55% of Tesla’s entire global quarterly deliveries came from China, based on the registration data from CPCA.

Tesla’s growth in China last month was achieved while the broader auto market in the country was down 17%.

Electrek‘s take

This is impressive, and it shows just how important of a market China is now for Tesla and electric vehicles in general.

It’s important to note that Tesla builds vehicles for exportation out of Gigafactory Shanghai early in each quarter, which means that local sales in China are going to be down signifcantly this month and in November.

But it’s going to be interesting to see if Tesla can maintain a similar total output of around 50,000 units per month out of China during those exportation months.

As for people who trying to gauge the demand for Tesla vehicles in China, you’ll have to wait until December since it’s going to be the next month where Tesla focuses production for local deliveries.