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Tesla Model 3 boldly defies sales slump in world's largest electric car market
Tesla is reportedly coming off of one of its most successful months in November 2019 as Chinese registrations of the company’s electric vehicles skyrocketed 14x compared to their numbers in October. The news of the dramatic spike in new-car registrations gives Tesla plenty of momentum as the first deliveries of its Gigafactory 3-produced Model 3 sedan are set to begin soon.
In November, Tesla registered a total of 5,597 cars in China, the highest monthly registrations it recorded since June. It should be noted that the company reportedly sold less than 400 cars in the country in November 2018, according to China Automotive Information Net. New vehicle registrations may not necessarily reflect Tesla’s exact sales numbers, but they do provide a valuable metric in tracking the company’s performance in the local electric car market.
Auto analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence Steve Man believed tariffs on U.S. manufactured vehicles set to take effect in December may have helped spike sales for Tesla. These tariffs are no longer set to take effect because the United States and China agreed to the initial phases of a trade agreement in mid-December.
Despite a slowing Chinese electric car market, Tesla continues to thrive. The next step for the company and its CEO Elon Musk is to begin deliveries of Model 3 vehicles that have been manufactured at its Shanghai production plant. The Made-in-China Model 3 will cost around $50,000, though government subsidies could knock about $3,500 off the price of the vehicle, according to the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
Demand for the Model 3 in China is recognizably high according to Musk. However, he sees the vehicle’s price will need to come down slightly for the company to be successful there. “It’s important to appreciate, the demand for Model 3 is insanely high. The inhibitor is affordability. It’s just that people literally don’t have the money to buy the car. It’s got nothing to do with desire. They just don’t have enough money in the bank account. If the car can – if we made it more affordable, the demand is extraordinary,” Musk said back in May 2019.
Tesla’s potential in China is significant because of the overwhelming presence of battery-powered cars in the country. China is responsible for around 45% of the world’s electric car market, as per data from the International Energy Agency. This accounts for about 2.3 million battery-powered cars in the country in 2018. China’s growth in the electric car market is evident as well. In comparison, the second-largest global fleet of electric cars in the world last year was Europe, which accounted for 24% of the worldwide EV market. The United States follows with 22%.
Musk has stated he expects Gigafactory 3 to produce around 3,000 vehicles a week and recognizes the advantages his company holds in China. “If you’re in the automotive industry you understand how significant this is, but maybe it’s not as obvious to everyone. Tesla has the first wholly-owned manufacturing facility in China of any automotive company. So, this is profound. And we’re very appreciative of the Chinese government allowing us to do this,” Musk said.
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) reported its earnings for the first quarter of 2026 on Wednesday afternoon. Here’s what the company reported compared to what Wall Street analysts expected.
The earnings results come after Tesla reported a massive beat on vehicle deliveries for the second quarter, delivering 489,126 vehicles and building 451,758 cars during the three-month span.
This was a major shock for those on Wall Street as they anticipated somewhere around 400,000 deliveries for the quarter, and showed Tesla still has plenty of demand for its vehicles around the world and in the U.S. despite losing the $7,500 EV Tax Credit last year.
Tesla Q2 2026 Earnings Results
- Non-GAAP EPS – $0.33 reported vs. $0.53 expected
- Revenues – $28.236 billion reported vs. $26.4 billion expected
- Free Cash Flow- -$1.092B
- Profit -$ 4.751B
Tesla (beat/missed) analyst expectations, so the market response to the company’s quarter is what we will look for next.
Tesla shares closed today down just over 1 percent, trading at $374.01.
In the past, it has been anyone’s guess with what Tesla shares will do after they report earnings. Strong quarters have resulted in sharp drops, while lackluster quarters have seen the stock shoot up considerably.
Tesla will hold its Q2 2026 Earnings Call in about 90 minutes at 5:30 p.m. on the East Coast. Remarks will be made by CEO Elon Musk and other executives, who will shed some light on the investor questions that we covered earlier this week.
You can stream it below. Additionally, we will be doing our Live Blog on X and Facebook.
Q2 2026 Earnings Call https://t.co/zZS6ii2TWK
— Tesla (@Tesla) July 22, 2026
Tesla is about to make parking in busy parking lots at businesses and other points of interest less stressful than ever by allowing drivers more control over where they park and how, CEO Elon Musk confirmed on X.
Tesla has been working to improve the parking performance of vehicles utilizing the Full Self-Driving suite, but now it is looking to add more customization, allowing drivers to choose the specific space they park in, but also potentially the orientation the car pulls into the spot:
It’s coming soon
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 21, 2026
Musk has reiterated on X twice over the past several weeks that Tesla is working to make things with the FSD suite based more on the driver’s specific preferences and behaviors that were seen in past drives.
Essentially, it sounds like if you tend to park away from a business to avoid other vehicles, Tesla FSD will soon recognize that preference of yours and start parking further away as well. Additionally, the prospect of assigned parking spaces has been something many owners have voiced concerns about.
Living in a community with assigned parking spaces makes using FSD incredibly difficult as it will rarely park in the correct spot when there are so many to choose from. This is also pertinent in work settings where there are sometimes assigned parking spaces.
The updates to Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite in terms of listening to driver preferences with parking are also extending to routing. Tesla announced yesterday that with the release of its 2026 Summer Update, it was adding Automatic Navigation and Preferred Routes:
Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more
Tesla has always maintained the idea that any human input is bad input, and that, ideally, Tesla Full Self-Driving will always make the right decision. Of course, this is all in theory, but the issue is that so many of Tesla’s interventions have come because it does something that is not necessarily wrong, but perhaps not what the driver would prefer.
Taking these preferences into account will help Tesla alleviate some of the potentially unnecessary interventions that drivers perform.
Tesla is starting to prepare for the launch of the Optimus robot in its smartphone app, new coding strings show. Elon Musk has referred to Optimus as what will be the greatest-selling product of any kind of all time, and now, Tesla is getting ready for its launch.
Tesla’s smartphone app had several first-time mentions of the Optimus program, according to Tesla App Updates, who intially reported on the appearance. Here’s what they found:
A Dedicated “Robot” Phone Key Authentication
Tesla is working on a Bluetooth Low Energy, or BLE, authentication that is specifically for robots. This does not only apply to Optimus, though, as Robotaxi, which is Tesla’s autonomous ride-hailing platform, might also identify vehicles within the fleet as robots as well.
Tesla shows rapid teardown of Model S and X lines, paving the way for Optimus at Fremont
Essentially, pairing your phone as a key to anything Tesla identifies as a robot to a “whitelist” of authorized devices. Optimus, Robotaxi, or other products that fall into this category will only respond if the device trying to communicate with it is authorized.
This is a great security feature that will eliminate at least face-value and low-level threats.
Home Data Collection and System Alerts
This appears to be somewhat of a neural network for Optimus within your house. There will be a dedicated screen that asks for consent to collect both video and spatial data while Optimus performs in-home tasks. Everything from vacuuming, washing dishes, dusting, and other activities will be tracked.
There will also be a comprehensive alert system that will track everything from low battery to mechanical issues.
Other Changes
Most of the changes tracked in this particular app update are related to Tesla’s 2026 Summer Update, and include things such as image assets for new features, a preview of the new custom wraps feature, and other unique features.
You can check out our coverage on what is included with the 2026 Summer Update here:
Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more
Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2026 earnings results: miss on EPS, beat on revenue
Tesla is about to make parking in busy lots less stressful than ever
