A Model Y vehicle displayed at a Tesla pilot store on January 4, 2021 in Shanghai, China.
Gao Yuwen | Visual China Group | Getty Images
BEIJING – The Tesla Y starts with a solid start in China, less than three months after the start of deliveries.
The mid-size SUV was the third best-selling electric car in February with 4,630 vehicles, according to data released Wednesday by the China Automobile Association. Considering January, the data showed that the car was the ninth best-selling new energy vehicle, a category that includes electric cars.
Tesla announced on New Year’s Day that its Chinese-made model will start deliveries at a price that the Chinese press said is 30% cheaper than previously announced.
The Model Y has been popular, even though car sales usually fall during the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, which took place in February this year.
Car sales nationwide fell 45.5 percent in February from January, according to the association. In the first two months of the year, these figures showed that almost 3.34 million cars were sold in China, with new energy vehicles accounting for 7.5%.
Chinese electric car start-ups Xpeng and Li Auto announced a sharp drop in deliveries in February to just over 2,000 vehicles each and low forecasts for the first quarter. Rival Nio led the group with deliveries about twice as high in February and much greater guidance for that quarter.
According to the car association, the three new Chinese vehicles rank among the top 15 new energy cars sold in China in the first two months of the year.
Tesla’s Model 3 ranks second
But start-ups remain the largest carmakers in the Chinese electric vehicle market.
In first place was Hongguang Mini, a cheap miniature electric car, developed by the general association of General Motors with Wuling Motors and SAIC Motor owned by the state.
Tesla’s Model 3 sedan, which was the best-selling electric car in China last year, ranked second for February and the first two months of the year, according to the association.
In third place for January and February combined was BYD’s luxury Han sedan, the data show. The vehicle, which comes in both purely electric and hybrid models, has grown in popularity since its launch last summer.
Due to the dependence on self-reporting, some in China’s auto industry have questioned the accuracy of the association’s figures.