During the third quarter, Tesla sold 222,517 China-made vehicles, contributing 51.15 percent of its global deliveries.

In the January-September period, Tesla sold 699,056 China-made vehicles, up 44.71 percent year-on-year.

Tesla has a factory in Shanghai that produces the Model 3 sedan and Model Y SUV, which not only supplies local customers, but also serves as an export hub for the US electric vehicle (EV) maker.

Tesla delivered 435,059 vehicles globally in the third quarter, up 26.53 percent year-on-year while down 6.67 percent from the second quarter, according to data it released on October 2.

This means that vehicles produced at the Shanghai plant contributed 51.15 percent of Tesla's deliveries in the third quarter, down from 53.03 percent in the second quarter and down from 54.23 percent in the first quarter.

Giga Shanghai's highest contribution to Tesla's global deliveries came in the first quarter of 2022, when 182,174 China-made Tesla vehicles were sold, contributing 58.76 percent of Tesla's global deliveries.

The Shanghai factory is Tesla's largest in the world, with an annual capacity of about 1.1 million vehicles.

On September 1, Tesla began pre-sales of the new Model 3 in China, with prices starting at 259,900 yuan ($35,600).

The previous Model 3 available in China started at RMB 231,900. This means that the new Model 3's pre-sale starting price in China is RMB 28,000, or 12 percent, higher than the old model.

The new Model 3 has not yet begun official sales in China, and its deliveries are expected to begin this quarter.

On October 1, Tesla launched the updated Model Y in China with unchanged prices but minor updates to features to increase the appeal of the hot-selling SUV.

Tesla Q3 global deliveries miss estimates, maintains 2023 volume target of 1.8 million vehicles