Despite the anticipation of the first made-in-China deliveries, Tesla delivered 5,000 cars in November alone in China with imported inventory.
Tesla sales in China have grown rapidly over the last few years.
It’s now Tesla’s second-biggest market after the US, and it delivered over $600 million worth of vehicles in the country during the last quarter.
That’s up from $400 million during the same period last year.
There have been some questions about the fourth quarter, since that’s when Tesla is expected to start deliveries of made-in-China Model 3 vehicles, which are cheaper than Tesla’s imported vehicles.
Some expected that demand for Tesla’s imported vehicles would fall in anticipation of the made-in-China Model 3, but Bloomberg reports that deliveries remained strong in November:
Registrations of Tesla vehicles climbed to a five-month high of 5,597 in November, compared with 393 a year earlier, according to state-backed China Automotive Information Net, which gathers and reports car-industry data. Tesla shares rose a fifth consecutive day, opening up as much as 2.2% to $413, a new intraday record.
It’s in contrast with the overall Chinese auto market, which has seen a downturn.
Those vehicles are likely worth over $350 million in sales for Tesla in China.
In December, Tesla is going to rely more on made-in-China Model 3 vehicles.
As we reported last week, the automaker is now steadily producing and shipping made-in-China Model 3 vehicles out of Gigafactory 3.
However, they haven’t confirmed the start of deliveries just yet.
CEO Elon Musk recently told employees that Tesla has “two most critical priorities” to accomplish by the end of the year, and one of them is “making sure all cars are delivered to their customers before the end of the year.”
Electrek’s Take
Tesla can’t get the important 100,000 cars in a quarter milestone without China.
Over 5,000 cars in November alone is very good, but now Tesla is going to need to deliver some of those made-in-China Model 3 vehicles.
As I previously stated, it would already be a victory if they could deliver 1,000 of those cars by the end of the year, but now it looks like Tesla might have already produced more than 1,000 at Gigafactory 3.
It’s something to keep an eye on during the last few days of the year.
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