Tesla China saw 14,300 new vehicle registrations in the week of August 12-18, 2024. This represents a 7.74% drop from the 15,500 registrations that the electric vehicle maker saw in the week ending August 11, 2024.
Tesla China does not report its weekly domestic sales figures, though a general idea of the company’s overall performance in the local Chinese automotive market can be inferred from new vehicles’ insurance registrations. Fortunately, these registrations are tracked and reported by industry watchers, as well as domestic automakers like Li Auto.
$TSLA ??
BREAKING: Tesla China insured units
< Aug 2024>
(29)-4 : 12,500
5-11 : 15,500
12-18 : 14,000
(Model Y: 8k / Model 3 : 6k) pic.twitter.com/S9zAH9WQU1— Tsla Chan (@Tslachan) August 20, 2024
And as per Li Auto’s recent data, Tesla China saw 14,300 new vehicle registrations last week. These figures represent the second-best weekly numbers from the electric vehicle maker this third quarter, exceeded only by the previous week’s 15,500 registrations. For context, Tesla China also saw 12,500 new vehicle registrations in the first week of the third quarter.
Tesla seems to be building up towards a strong Q3 in China. While Tesla China’s overall 2024 numbers are still lagging behind its 2023 figures, the company’s domestic registrations are down just 1.2% year-to-date. Provided that Tesla China maintains its recent momentum, it would not be surprising if 2024’s registrations catch up to the company’s 2023 numbers in the coming weeks.
Tesla's year-to-date sales in China are still slightly negative compared to last year. ??
With 6 weeks left in this quarter, we can expect sales tendency over 15k per week. I think after calendar week 34, sales will surpass last year's sales at some point because last year's… https://t.co/BCgci3mThy pic.twitter.com/kGsbkrRf2E— Roland Pircher (@piloly) August 20, 2024
Such a scenario seems quite likely as Tesla China’s registrations in 2023 saw a drop during the fourth quarter due to the rollout of the reengineered Model 3, which required upgrades to Giga Shanghai and a period when local deliveries of the all-electric sedan were paused. For now, at least, Tesla China is unlikely to see similar headwinds in the coming months.
Elon Musk has noted that Tesla has the capability to exceed its record-setting 2023 global sales figures this 2024. Tesla sold a total of 1,808,581 vehicles during Full Year 2023. In comparison, Tesla has delivered 830,776 vehicles globally between Q1 and Q2 2024. From this number, 426,623 were from Giga Shanghai.
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News
Tesla sees sharp November rebound in China as Model Y demand surges
New data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) shows a 9.95% year-on-year increase and a 40.98% jump month-over-month.
Tesla’s sales momentum in China strengthened in November, with wholesale volumes rising to 86,700 units, reversing a slowdown seen in October.
New data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) shows a 9.95% year-on-year increase and a 40.98% jump month-over-month. This was partly driven by tightened delivery windows, targeted marketing, and buyers moving to secure vehicles before changes to national purchase tax incentives take effect.
Tesla’s November rebound coincided with a noticeable spike in Model Y interest across China. Delivery wait times extended multiple times over the month, jumping from an initial 2–5 weeks to estimated handovers in January and February 2026 for most five-seat variants. Only the six-seat Model Y L kept its 4–8 week estimated delivery timeframe.
The company amplified these delivery updates across its Chinese social media channels, urging buyers to lock in orders early to secure 2025 delivery slots and preserve eligibility for current purchase tax incentives, as noted in a CNEV Post report. Tesla also highlighted that new inventory-built Model Y units were available for customers seeking guaranteed handovers before December 31.
This combination of urgency marketing and genuine supply-demand pressure seemed to have helped boost November’s volumes, stabilizing what had been a year marked by several months of year-over-year declines.
For the January–November period, Tesla China recorded 754,561 wholesale units, an 8.30% decline compared to the same period last year. The company’s Shanghai Gigafactory continues to operate as both a domestic production base and a major global export hub, building the Model 3 and Model Y for markets across Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, among other territories.
Investor's Corner
Tesla bear gets blunt with beliefs over company valuation
Tesla bear Michael Burry got blunt with his beliefs over the company’s valuation, which he called “ridiculously overvalued” in a newsletter to subscribers this past weekend.
“Tesla’s market capitalization is ridiculously overvalued today and has been for a good long time,” Burry, who was the inspiration for the movie The Big Short, and was portrayed by Christian Bale.
Burry went on to say, “As an aside, the Elon cult was all-in on electric cars until competition showed up, then all-in on autonomous driving until competition showed up, and now is all-in on robots — until competition shows up.”
Tesla bear Michael Burry ditches bet against $TSLA, says ‘media inflated’ the situation
For a long time, Burry has been skeptical of Tesla, its stock, and its CEO, Elon Musk, even placing a $530 million bet against shares several years ago. Eventually, Burry’s short position extended to other supporters of the company, including ARK Invest.
Tesla has long drawn skepticism from investors and more traditional analysts, who believe its valuation is overblown. However, the company is not traded as a traditional stock, something that other Wall Street firms have recognized.
While many believe the company has some serious pull as an automaker, an identity that helped it reach the valuation it has, Tesla has more than transformed into a robotics, AI, and self-driving play, pulling itself into the realm of some of the most recognizable stocks in tech.
Burry’s Scion Asset Management has put its money where its mouth is against Tesla stock on several occasions, but the firm has not yielded positive results, as shares have increased in value since 2020 by over 115 percent. The firm closed in May.
In 2020, it launched its short position, but by October 2021, it had ditched that position.
Tesla has had a tumultuous year on Wall Street, dipping significantly to around the $220 mark at one point. However, it rebounded significantly in September, climbing back up to the $400 region, as it currently trades at around $430.
It closed at $430.14 on Monday.
News
Tesla is making a change to its exterior cameras with a potential upgrade
Tesla appears to be making a change to its exterior side repeater cameras, which are used for the company’s Full Self-Driving suite, and other features, like Sentry Mode.
The change appears to be a potential upgrade in preparation for the AI5 suite, which CEO Elon Musk said will be present on a handful of vehicles next year, but will not be widely implemented until 2027.
Currently, Tesla uses a Sony sensor lens with the model number IMX963, a 5-megapixel camera with better dynamic range and low-light performance over the past iteration in Hardware 3 vehicles. Cameras in HW3 cars were only 1.2 megapixels.
However, Tesla is looking to upgrade, it appears, as Tesla hacker greentheonly has spotted a new sensor model in its firmware code, with the model number IMX00N being explicitly mentioned:
Looks like Tesla is changing (upgrading?) cameras in (some?) new cars produced.
Where as HW4 to date used exterior cameras with IMX963, now they (might potentially) have something called IMX00N— green (@greentheonly) December 1, 2025
Sony has not announced any formal specifications for the IMX00N model, and although IMX963 has been used in AI4/HW4 vehicles, it only makes sense that Tesla would prepare to upgrade these external cameras once again in preparation for what it believes to be the second hardware iteration capable of fully autonomous self-driving.
Tesla has maintained that AI4/HW4 vehicles are capable of self-driving operation, but AI5 will likely help the company make significant strides, especially in terms of overall performance and data collection.
Tesla last updated its exterior cameras on its vehicles back in early 2023, as it transitioned to the 5-megapixel IMX963. It also added additional cameras to its vehicles in January with the new Model Y, which featured an additional lens on the front bumper to help with Full Self-Driving.
Tesla’s new self-driving computer (HW4): more cameras, radar, and more
