Tesla Says Report About 70% October Sales Drop In China Is ‘Wildly Inaccurate’

Today an official from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) told Reuters that said Tesla sold just 211 cars in China last month. This would be a 70% drop compared to a year ago. While the 40% import tax likely hurt Tesla’s sales in China, the automaker responded that the CPCA figures are off.

“This is wildly inaccurate. While we do not disclose regional or monthly sales numbers, these figures are off by a significant margin,” said a Tesla spokesperson in response to the Reuters report about the CPCA data.

Currently, Tesla sells the Model S and Model X in China. And Tesla is planning to roll out the Model 3 in China starting in March 2019. China is Tesla’s third single largest market for vehicle sales.

To counter the 40% import duty on Chinese consumers, Tesla lowered the prices of its vehicles. And even though Tesla is cutting the prices to make its vehicles more affordable in China and is taking a hit from the higher tariffs, the company is setting up a site for an overseas factory in Shanghai to help avoid steep tariffs in the future.

Once it was revealed that the prices were lowered, consumers flocked to the Tesla booth at the 2018 Guangzhou Auto Show and many of them placed orders on the spot. At the booth, Tesla was also showcasing the V9.0 software update.

According to TeslaTopInfo, Chinese auto reporter Sun Shao Jun said that the booth that had the most customers at the Guangzhou Auto Show was Tesla, which was busy from the beginning of the day until the end every day.

https://twitter.com/TeslaTopInfo/status/1066224336355307520

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