After a whirlwind series of public criticisms in China, alongside reports that it was bolstering relations with Chinese regulators, Tesla now faces falling sales in comparison with rivals, and, subsequently, falling shares.
Tesla’s (TSLA) shares fell on Tuesday, following a decline in the company’s April sales in the Chinese market from March, according to Marketwatch.
In April, Tesla sold 25,845 vehicles that were made in China, which was down 27 percent from March. While overall EV sales in March fell across the Chinese market, falling a whopping 12 percent, shares of NIO actually made gains of 1 percent, undoing earlier drops of 6.2 percent, while Xpeng Motors and Li Auto saw smaller drops than Tesla.
Tesla’s shares declined as much as 5.3 percent on Tuesday, falling to a price of $612.88 at the time of writing. The news also comes on the heels of a 6.4 percent drop on Monday, which also followed a three-week downturn for the U.S. electric vehicle (EV) maker.
China’s NIO and Xpeng are Tesla’s Best Rivals for Global Marketshare: JPMorgan https://t.co/o7fNFkfiWM
— TeslaNorth.com (@RealTeslaNorth) April 26, 2021
In a note to clients, Wedbush’s Dan Ives wrote, “Tesla’s share gains stagnated vs. domestic players Nio, Xpeng and Li Auto during the month as the company faced a handful of negative PR issues in China stemming from well-discussed safety issues, military spy noise and the protest at the Shanghai Auto Expo.”
At the time of writing, Tesla’s (TSLA) shares are trading at $612.88, down 2.55 percent from today’s open.
Earlier today, a Reuters report claimed Tesla had paused its land buy to expand its Giga Shanghai factory, but the electric automaker replied to say the site was “developing as planned.”
