SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Tesla is on course for another record quarter in China as the electric carmaker faces pressure from local rivals such as BYD, which are chipping away at its share of the world’s biggest car market, analysts said.
Tesla could sell 155,000 cars in China between April and June, up 13 percent from record first-quarter sales, according to Shi Ji, an analyst at China Merchants Bank International Securities.
Tesla’s share of China’s hybrid vehicle market, however, is expected to decline in the quarter to 13.7% from 16% in the first three months of 2023, while BYD and Guangzhou’s electric car arm Aion Automobile Group, would gain shares, the analyst said.
Deutsche Bank expects Tesla sales in China to reach 153,000 units in the second quarter, while the group could sell 448,000 units globally.
“Tesla needs to sell in China’s smaller cities to continue growing, but its direct sales model would be too expensive to expand its sales network to hundreds of cities,” said Yale Zhang, general manager of Automotive Foresight.
Tesla will release its global quarterly sales over the weekend, while sales in China, its second largest market after North America, will be known during the first week of July.
The company slashed prices of its Model 3 and Model Y earlier this year to boost sales and started a price war with rivals including BYD, which followed suit by offering discounts or launching new cheaper models.
(Reporting Zhang Yan, Brenda Goh; Diana Mandiá, editing by Kate Entringer)
Copyright © 2023 Thomson Reuters
I have over 8 years of experience working in the news industry. I have worked as a reporter, editor, and now managing editor at 247 News Agency. I am responsible for the day-to-day operations of the news website and overseeing all of the content that is published. I also write a column for the website, covering mostly market news.
