Friday, Tesla (TSLA) stock went up after the company said that sales in China were strong.China’s Passenger Car Association says that Tesla’s wholesale shipments from its China factory rose 32% from a year ago to 74,402 cars in February (CPCA). That number also shows a 13% rise from January to February. Shares of the company that makes EVs went up almost 3.6% on Friday.
It should not come as a surprise that there was an increase in February shipments considering that the CPCA reported that sales of new energy vehicles, which include sales of battery electric and hybrid vehicles, increased by an overall 30% in February. In addition, it was mentioned the previous month that January would be a “poor” month for overall sales in the region because of the Chinese New Year celebrations.
Tesla stock pops after China sales jump year-over-year
Despite this, the fact that Tesla had greater sales in February is a positive development, since it comes at a time when competition is increasing in the vital Chinese EV market, which is where Tesla is getting an increasing portion of its global sales.
“Tesla’s continued growth in China should come as no surprise,” Chandan Kumar, head of products at index provider Indxx, said. “As a logical result of this Tesla, despite what many Americans may think, only gets roughly 31% of its total sales from the US, with the rest essentially all from China and Europe.”
- Local Officials Say That The Tesla Factory In Mexico Will Be Almost Twice As Big As The One In Texas
- Musk’s Tesla Master Plan Is A Letdown, And It Doesn’t Say Much About New Cars
Earlier this week, during Tesla’s Investor Day, Tom Zhu, Tesla’s head of global manufacturing (and likely heir apparent to CEO Elon Musk), addressed concerns about demand in China.
“As long as you offer a product with value at an affordable price, you don’t have to worry about demand,” Zhu said during the Q&A portion of the event late Wednesday evening. Zhu noted the price cuts in China “generated huge demand, more than we can produce, really.” Tesla also cut prices in Australia, Japan, and South Korea in order to gin up demand.
The price cuts were met with deep resentment and protests from recent buyers in China because they were not given a refund or other forms of compensation, such as free charging, when the price cuts were announced. Although the price cuts were cheered by new Tesla buyers in China, they were met with deep resentment and protests by recent buyers.
The wait period for all versions of the built-to-order Model 3 is currently one to four weeks, as stated on the website for Tesla’s China operations. The wait time for the Model Y SUV (RWD and dual motor) is two to five weeks.