Tesla’s Chinese EV sales sank in April as rival BYD’s grew

Tesla retained its position as China’s second-largest seller of electric vehicles last month, even as its sales went down in the world’s largest auto market.

The Austin, Texas-based company sold 62,167 China-made cars in April, down 18% compared to the same time in 2023, according to preliminary data released by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) on Tuesday. Sales were down 30% from March, when Tesla sold 89,064 China-made EVs.

That leaves Tesla as the second-largest seller of EVs for April, behind chief rival BYD. The Shenzhen-based automaker sold more than 330,000 new energy vehicles last month, of which 145,576 were battery electric vehicles, growing 49% year-over-year. Warren Buffett-backed BYD briefly dethroned Tesla to become the top global seller of EVs in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Tesla is looking to boost its profile in China, slashing prices and making major strides toward getting a full launch of its Full Self-Driving driver assistance technology after a surprise trip to Beijing last month. And, as Musk pushes out executive leaders, lays off workers, and takes more control of North American operations, Senior Vice President of Automotive Tom Zhu is heading back to his role overseeing the Chinese market, Electrek reports.

Zhu has been credited with turning Tesla’s Gigafactory Shanghai into a major performer for the automaker and visited Chinese Premier Li Qiang last month alongside Musk. Zhu is one of just three senior executives named on Tesla’s website after Drew Baglino resigned last month after nearly two decades at the company.

Unlike many of its rivals, Tesla didn’t use the Beijing Auto Show to attract more interest from consumers. The CPCA on Tuesday said the auto show and China’s trade-in program will help nudge better car sales in May.

Overall, the CPCA said total sales of electric passenger cars in China grew 33% year-over-year to about 800,000 units in April. That’s 2% lower than March.

Changan Automobile and Geely Auto trailed behind BYD and Tesla in third and fourth place. Changan sold 51,682 vehicles and Geely — which owns Volvo, Polestar, and Zeekr — sold 51,428 units.

Xiaomi sold 7,058 units of the SU7, its first-ever EV that was launched in late March. Li Auto sold 25,787 units in April and, earlier this week, said it had received more than 30,000 orders for the L6 SUV that was launched on April 18.