Tesla set a new record in the Chinese market in 2024, defying a global trend in which the US electric carmaker’s sales slumped for the first time in nearly a decade.
Tesla’s China sales exceeded 657,000 units in 2024, up 8.8 percent year on year. In December 2024, it sold 83,000 cars, soaring 12.8 percent from a month earlier. according to Jiemian.com.
Both were record highs.
The automaker launched several rounds of promotions last year, with the starting price of its bestselling Model Y (rear-wheel-drive version) down to 239,900 yuan (US$32,832), setting a record for the model’s lowest price in the global market but helping it gain an edge in the world’s largest auto market.
In comparison, Tesla reported a delivery of 1,789,200 units in the global market, a 1.1 percent drop from the 1,810,000 units in 2023.
It was the first sales decline for Tesla since 2015, and the data was also below the 1.8 million units that analysts had forecast.
Tesla is expected to launch cheaper models in the first half of this year, with cheap EVs costing less than US$30,000.
The company’s fourth-quarter 2024 financial results will be released on January 29, 2025, after the close of trading.