Comrade Elon’s Slump: Tesla’s July Sales in China Crater 31%

Elon Musk’s Tesla has reported the sale of 64,285 Shanghai-made vehicles in China for July 2023, a massive 31 percent decline from June’s sales figures.

Teslarati reports that recent data reveals that the sales for Tesla’s Gigafactory Shanghai-made vehicles in July 2023 represents a 31.38 percent decline from the 93,680 vehicles sold in June 2023, making it the lowest monthly result for Tesla China this year.

The report also provided a detailed overview of Tesla China’s figures for the year, listing 66,051 for January, 74,402 for February, 88,869 for March, 75,842 for April, 77,695 for May, and a a high water mark of 93,680 cars sold for June. Cumulatively, Tesla China has sold 540,824 Giga Shanghai-made vehicles from January to July 2023, marking a 67.45 percent improvement year-over-year.

China-based BYD, which leads the country in sales of New Energy Vehicles (NEVs), posted a 61 percent year-over-year increase to 261,105 vehicles in July 2023, 18,169 of which were exported to foreign territories.

Tesla Gigafactory Shanghai, the electric vehicle maker’s largest factory by volume, currently has an estimated annual output of over 750,000 vehicles. This figure surpasses the estimated annual capacity of 650,000 vehicles at Tesla’s Fremont Factory, the company’s oldest plant.

Breitbart News has reported extensively on Elon Musk’s cozy relationship with chinese communist powerbrokers. In May, Musk attended a lavish banquet with movers and shakers in the communist government:

The visit to his own company appeared to be the last stop on Musk’s itinerary in China prior to his departure on Thursday morning Beijing time. Musk began his visit to China with a meeting with Foreign Minister Qin Gang, who used his time with Musk to encourage American business leaders to invest in the totalitarian country. He later met with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and Minister of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) Jin Zhuanglong and, according to Reuters, Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang, one of the most powerful members of the Communist Party Politburo.

In between these meetings, reports surfaced of Musk stopping by the ritzy Man Fu Yan restaurant in Beijing for a lavish feast in his honor, featuring a menu branded with his Chinese name, 马斯克 (Masike). The Chinese character for “ma” also means horse, so the menu, as circulating on Weibo, included art featuring horses.

The Global Times confirmed Musk’s stop at the restaurant and described his meal.

“After the meeting with Qin, Musk was said to have enjoyed dinner at a high-end restaurant in Beijing, according to photos circulating on China’s social media platforms,” the state-run newspaper relayed. “He was cordially received by the restaurant with a menu elaborately designed to contain the initial of Musk’s last name in Chinese and 16 dishes including geoduck with pickled cabbage and zhajiangmian, a traditional noodle dish topped with a rich soybean paste.”

Read more at Teslarati here.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan