Tesla Drops 1.5% Premarket After Sales Of China-Made EVs In January Drop 11.5% YoY

American EV giant Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) reportedly sold 63,238 China-made vehicles in January, marking a dip of 11.5% from the corresponding month of 2024.

What Happened: The numbers include Model 3 and Model Y manufactured in China and sold in the country or exported overseas.

Last year, Tesla sold 71,447 China-manufactured vehicles in January and 93,766 in December, according to a report from CnEVPost, citing data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).

Possible Reasons For Drop: The drop in sales was likely because of the Chinese New Year holidays to the end of January. Last year, the holidays were in February.

Furthermore, Tesla launched a refreshed version of the Model Y SUV in January. Bloomberg reported in January that the EV maker is planning to suspend part of the lines for its refreshed Model Y in Shanghai for around three weeks over the Chinese New Year from Jan. 22 through Feb. 14 to prep the lines for ramped-up production of the new model.

The report also said that another portion of the factory that makes the company's Model 3 sedans will be closed from Jan. 26 to Feb. 3.

Rival Performance: In comparison, Tesla rival BYD Co. (OTC:BYDDY) sold 296,446 new energy passenger vehicles in January, marking a jump of nearly 47.5% from last year, thanks to a major jump in plug-in hybrid passenger vehicle sales.

Pure passenger EV (battery electric vehicle) sales of the Chinese player rose to 125,377 in January, marking a rise of 19% from the corresponding month of last year.

Price Action: Tesla shares are down 1.5% in premarket trading as of the time of writing. The stock closed at $374.32 on Thursday, marking a drop of 1.3% year-to-date, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

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