Shanghai (ZXZC)- In the first quarter of 2021 (Q1), there were 69,631 consumers in China buying the Mandatory Liability Insurance for Traffic Accidents of Motor Vehicles (MLI) for Tesla's vehicles, according the to China Automotive Technology & Research Center (CATARC).

The performance made Tesla the No.4 premium brand in China by Q1 insurance registrations. The top 3 were Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi, whose car registrations reached 222,513 units, 221,809 units and 197,005 units respectively.

The CATARC's data show that Lexus and Cadillac ranked fifth and sixth with their Q1 insurance numbers amounting to 60,571 units and 58,655 units.

EC6; photo credit: NIO

Among the top 15 premium brands by Jan.-March insurance registrations, Hongqi and NIO were the only two Chinese indigenous brands. NIO's registrations reached 19,844 vehicles, rocketing 420% compared to the same period a year ago.

Notably, the transaction price of NIO's vehicles stood at 428,000 yuan ($65,330), only following Porsche (789,400 yuan), Land Rover (593,700 yuan) and Mercedes-Benz (434,200 yuan).

Among the top 15 all-electric SUV models by March insurance registrations, NIO's three production models all entered the list. The ES6 was honored the runner-up with an insurance volume of 2,960 units. However, it was still greatly outperformed by the Tesla Model Y, which got registrations of 10,140 units.

Model Y; photo credit: Tesla

Moreover, the Model Y and the NIO EC6 were the top 2 coupe SUV models priced above 300,000 yuan ($45,792) by March insurance registrations. According to the CATARC, 2,484 consumers in China bought the MLI for the NIO EC6s last month.