Among electric SUVs, Tesla’s Model Y barely fell short in the Chinese auto market in April, landing the second most registered SUV spot behind a local competitor.
According to new energy SUV registration data from the China Automotive Technology and Research Center (via 42how_), 5,520 Tesla Model Y units were registered in China in April, falling just behind the Li ONE’s 5,522 units registered, and just ahead of the NIO ES6, with 3,302 units registered.
The drop follows Tesla having sold over 69,000 Model Y and 3 units in the first quarter and comes amidst various public criticisms of the company’s products and privacy practices in recent months.
According to data from China Automotive Technology & Research Center, 5,520 #Tesla Model Y were newly registered in April in China.
Top 3 new energy SUV sold in April in China:
1. Li ONE: 5,522
2. Tesla Model Y: 5,520
3. #NIO ES6: 3,302 https://t.co/RqJOBn0qhf pic.twitter.com/wXlk5trZRB— 42HOW (@42how_) May 12, 2021
Tesla sold 25,845 vehicles in China in April, with the figure including 14,184 units exported, rather than those with registrations occurring in China.
In March, China’s military banned the use of Teslas due to camera privacy concerns, though Tesla later praised China on State-run Television, and the company has since confirmed that Chinese data will be stored on Chinese servers, later announcing a new platform that will give users access to their own Tesla data.
The U.S. company has also faced quality complaints in China in recent months, especially following a protest incident at Auto Shanghai, which went viral on Weibo and led to a whirlwind of shared consumer quality concern experiences. The protestor claimed that Tesla’s brakes didn’t work, almost killing multiple members of her family, though Tesla later released data from the crash, which countered the allegations.
