Tesla’s domestic sales in China collapsed 45% year-over-year in January, falling to just 18,485 units — the automaker’s lowest monthly retail figure in the country since November 2022. The data, released today by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA), paints a grim picture of Tesla’s demand in the world’s largest EV market.
The figure represents an 80% plunge from December’s record-high 93,843 domestic deliveries. While seasonal declines between December and January are normal in China, a 45% year-over-year drop is not.
Hydrogen.
Tbh I’m more surprised that their market share hasn’t dropped more, considering the much higher quality:price ratio that Chinese EVs have these days
Tesla out spends them on marketing. And Chinese consumers continue to be as big a bunch of suckers for the All American Status Symbol as everyone else in the world.
Still won’t save them from other luxury EVs flooding the market. Or the repeated bad press they get when their shitty vehicles malfunction.
But you can carry a lot of water just by blasting people’s eyeballs with marketing material.
I get European as a status symbol but thinking any American products as a show of wealth and class baffles me. Maybe I’m just old, but I associate American goods with ruggedness, cool, or cheap.
I get European as a status symbol
All comes down to marketing. You think European products are a status symbol because LVMH spends enormous sums to convince you of their quality. American firms do the same thing in China.
I associate American goods with ruggedness, cool, or cheap.
Speaks to your media consumption habits. I’ve always associated American goods with hip hop and street art. But I’m also bombarded with images of kids in track suits and giant hair doing kick-flips while downing soda. Or bohemian-types rolling up to a drive through in a top-down convertible while belting out pop music.
But it’s all just image. None of it is material.
“All American status symbol”. You mean a sign of trash built by prison labour.
We talking about the American or the Chinese cars here?
American obviously.
Sure, but seeing a bunch of better and cheaper (for them) domestic models on the road means that the ads are rapidly decreasing in effectiveness.
Let’s hope
It’s not only Tesla. According to official data, China’s auto sales fall at fastest pace in nearly two years in January
- Domestic car sales in China drop 19.5% from the year before to 1.4 million vehicles, the biggest decline since February 2024
- Electric cars and plug-in hybrids, which had previously been outpacing the overall market, fell 22.9 per cent in January
- China’s champion BYD’s sales were hit particularly hard in January, falling 30 per cent, higher than the industry average
- Subsidised auto trade-ins exceeded 11.5 million vehicles in 2025, accounting for nearly half the total vehicle sales
Any idea if this is within expected ranges or is there something breaking down. I know that there has been speculation that the way the industry was operating wasn’t sustainable, but is this a natural/maintainable shift or something else?
I recall the general observation that a lot of Chinese EV companies were being built up, quickly building production capacities that, taken together, greatly exceed demand, each company hoping to be among the few that eventually survive. So that what we’re now seeing would be this show down
Yes, in a nutshell, this is what we have been observing over the recent years. Many Chinese carmakers have gone bankrupt or halted production over the years, and the remaining are struggling with fierce price wars in China’s domestic market.
For 2026 the outlook is not too positive. Cui Dongshu, the Secretary General of the Chinese Passenger Car Association (CPCA), predicted “zero growth or slightly positive growth” for 2026, according to Chinese state media. Based on CPCA data, we’ll likely see China’s auto market in 2026 on track for the worst year since 2020 when the economy was disrupted by the pandemic.
A China Automobile Dealers Association survey showed that 41% of surveyed dealers expected lower sales targets from automakers in 2026 and 18.1% of those surveyed forecast a drop of more than 10%, Reuters reported.
Analysts -in China and abroad- largely agree that the major factor in China is low consumer confidence due to a weak economy. They also say that China’s car manufacturers become increasingly dependent on export markets. We will see how the EU and other markets will respond as the Chinese party-state subsidizes the industry and thus its overproduction heavily.
Yeah, that’s what I was wondering.
What $37,000 heavily subsidized cargets you in China.
Unlike Tesla in the US …?
So ford EVs will also be super cheap?
and bunch of stupid gadgets in a shit car. OK.
Makes sense, because this is what they are competing with: https://youtu.be/Mb6H7trzMfI
First, there’s the pull-forward effect. December 2025 was Tesla’s best-ever retail month in China at 93,843 units, as buyers rushed to purchase before the reinstatement of a 5% purchase tax on NEVs starting January 1, 2026. That tax had been fully exempted for over a decade. Some of January’s weakness is borrowed December strength.
Second, China’s vehicle trade-in subsidies expired in most cities in mid-November and remain in a transitional phase, dampening demand broadly.
Third, the broader NEV market was weak. China’s total passenger NEV retail sales fell 20% year-over-year in January to 596,000 units, according to CPCA estimates. Even BYD saw its NEV sales drop 30% year-over-year and 50% month-over-month.
But here’s the thing: even BYD’s weak month produced 210,051 units. Tesla’s 18,485 is a different universe.
stonk go up?
And nothing of value was lost.
I always thought that driving around with 600 kG of battery extra weight was insane… But maybe that was because I studied physics.
Do you have some better safer alternatives, since you “studied” physics?
