Tesla sells 74,402 China-made vehicles in Feb, up 12.6% from Jan
In the first two months, Tesla sold 140,453 China-made vehicles, up 20.71 percent from the same period last year.
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) sold 74,402 China-made vehicles in February, according to data released today by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).
The figure includes exports from Tesla's Shanghai plant, as well as the automaker's deliveries in China. The breakdown figures are currently unavailable.
This represents a 12.64 percent increase from January's 66,051 units and a 31.65 percent increase from 56,515 units in the same month last year.
In the first two months, Tesla sold 140,453 China-made vehicles, up 20.71 percent from 116,360 in the same period last year, according to data monitored by CnEVPost.
Giga Shanghai is Tesla's largest factory in the world, producing Model 3 and Model Y, with an annual capacity of about 1.1 million vehicles.
Notably, on February 15, Bloomberg reported that Tesla would halt some production at its Shanghai plant until the end of February as it upgrades the factory to begin rolling out a revamped version of the Model 3 in the Chinese market.
Tesla has been upgrading its production line in stages over the past two months, and deliveries of the new Model 3 are expected to begin later this year, the Bloomberg report said.
On March 1, Reuters reported that Tesla has been working to retool its Shanghai assembly plant in preparation for a revamped version of the Model 3, a project codenamed Highland by Tesla.
The Highland version of the Model 3 is expected to go into production in Shanghai in September, Reuters said, citing a person familiar with the matter.
With Highland, Tesla aims to cut production costs and boost the appeal of the electric sedan, which first went on sale in 2017, people involved in the project said.
In addition to the Highland version of the Model 3, the Reuters report also mentioned that Tesla is preparing a production makeover for the Model Y.
The changes to the Model Y -- which Tesla codenamed "Project Juniper" -- involve the exterior and interior of the crossover electric vehicle, with the goal of starting production in 2024, according to the Reuters report.
Moreover, the CPCA said in its report today that it forecasts China's new energy passenger vehicle wholesale sales to be 500,000 units in February, up 30 percent from January and up 60 percent year-on-year.
BYD's wholesale sales in February were 191,664 units, according to the CPCA. BYD posted data on March 1 that showed it sold 193,655 units in February.
Tesla expected to put new Model 3 into production in Shanghai in Sept; prepares to revamp Model Y, report says