Tesla continues its skid in mainland China as August electric car sales, market share fall

That meant Tesla’s losing streak has extended to six months in a row, despite its efforts to woo consumers away from rivals like Xpeng and Xiaomi with price cuts, interest-free loans and new model launches.

Tesla’s sales on the mainland last month accounted for 4.4 per cent of the nation’s total EV deliveries, which climbed 23 per cent to 1.29 million units, the CPCA data showed.

The company commanded a 16 per cent share of the Chinese EV market in 2020 when its Shanghai Gigafactory began producing Model 3 vehicles for mainland customers. That slumped to 6.9 per cent last year amid mounting challenges from China’s home-grown firms, which developed dozens of premium cars with intelligent features similar to Tesla’s models.

“Tesla is unlikely to regain its glory in this market since Chinese rivals are growing fast and their diverse product portfolios will continue to siphon off buying interest from Model 3 and Model Y vehicles,” said David Zhang, secretary general of the International Intelligent Vehicle Engineering Association. “Those Chinese-developed smart EVs are cheaper and more stylish, which proves to be attractive to many young consumers.”