Tesla's July sales of Chinese-made vehicles slide due to factory line upgrades
Tesla's early-quarter builds are usually destined for exportsold 28,217 Chinese-made vehicles in July, nearly two-thirds less than a month earlier as a scheduled upgrade to its factory lines in Shanghai disrupted production.last month, the China Passenger Car Association said. In June, it sold 78,906 vehicles and exported 968. Tesla China usually exports more cars at the beginning of a quarter while focusing more on domestic sales at the end.
Tesla suspended most of its production at the Shanghai plant in July due to an upgrade that aims to bring the factory's weekly output to around 22,000 units compared with levels of around 17,000 in June, according to internal memos seen by Reuters. The output ramp-up at Tesla's most productive manufacturing hub comes after production losses during a two-month COVID lockdown in Shanghai hurt the company's profit margin in the second quarter. China's overall passenger car sales in July jumped 20.1% from a year earlier to 1.84 million, the CPCA said.