Tesla price cuts in China work - it sold 74,402 EVs in February

February is a significant month when it comes to car sales in China, January is usually much slower due to the Chinese New Year celebrations. While in January car sales shut down together with most of the businesses for at least a week, sometimes even longer, come February the buyers are out in force.

Tesla chose to cut its prices in January and started an avalanche with most of the EV manufacturers eventually following its lead. Tesla’s January sales numbers were already good despite the holiday period and stood at 66,051 vehicles which was over 6,000 more than in January the previous year.

February has become a bumper month and hopefully a sign of things to follow. Tesla recorded 74,402 sales which is nearly 18,000 vehicles more than it sold in February of the last year. That represents a 31.2% jump year-on-year and 12.6% increase from the previous month.

Tesla is still lagging behind BYD which sold a staggering 191,664 vehicles in February. That number needs taking apart though because BYD doesn’t sell just EVs, it sells plug-in hybrids and extended range EVs. Out of the nearly 200,000 electric vehicles sold, the battery EVs represented 76,000 which places Tesla in a very close second place.

It gets even more interesting, when we look deeper into the numbers. Because there is no denying that BYD may be the king of sales, but the bulk of their customers buy cars well below the $30,000 price range. When we compare like-for-like segments of electric cars, BYD sold only 16,000 vehicles in the pure electric and over $30,000 category.

It is a significant result for Tesla, it means it is the favourite among the Chinese customers when it comes to pure electric vehicles and ones that cost over $30,000. The price bracket between $30,000 and $40,000 in China is the most contested market because it offers the best profit margins.

There is no denying that Tesla’s price reductions are doing what they were designed to do - bringing customers in. With these sales numbers Tesla is on a target to sell around 1 million electric vehicles in China alone this year if it manages to maintain the momentum. We know the company is bringing the revised Model 3 in September and is planning to start the manufacturing of refreshed Model Y next year.

If you have missed Tesla’s Investor Day, we have a round up of the most important announcements right here, together with confirmations of the Mexico Gigafactory deal and plans for robots to outnumber people - it makes for a perfect weekend read.

Source (Chinese)