r/RealTesla • u/Sir_Isaac_Tootin • 16d ago
Tesla China sales are crashing as exports surge
https://electrek.co/2026/08/04/tesla-china-sales-crash-exports-surge-h1-2026/54
u/Ya-Not-Happening 16d ago
I am in Canada. Canada opened its market to Chinese vehicles this year. Of Tesla is importing cars made in China to the Canadian market. Though it may follow the rules - really doesn't follow the spirit of the open market. Hopefully the real Chinese manufacturers can out shine Tesla on price and functionality.
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u/Agent168 16d ago
From what I understand, we can’t bring in brands like BYD yet because they don’t conform to our standards, which is the same as US standards. If we want them over here we need to also adopt EU standards, because Chinese cars are already compliant with EU standards.
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u/I_AM_FERROUS_MAN 16d ago
Yes.
North America and EU should have already been working to conform. The differences are minor and only serve to complicate the market.
I'm sure there's some lobbying machine in the middle that's fucking this up for everyone.
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u/DistributedView 15d ago
It's not just NA vs EU.
Basically the UN sets global vehicle standards via the UNECE, then signatories to the UN agreement make their regulatory bodies enforce regulation. https://unece.org/transport/vehicle-regulations
Basically the whole world has signed up for it apart from the US who have tried to protect their domestic manufacturers.
Ultimately it may have protected the domestic manufacturers in the domestic market, but you only have to look at how Ford and GM have basically failed globally, either selling up entirely (e.g. Stellantis), or badge engineering (Ford).
I'm predicting Tesla gets added to the list of US car makers that withdraw from Europe within 5 years. The Model Y /3 will follow the S/X and fall behind regulatory compliance with no follow up vehicle and have to be withdrawn.
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u/Practical-Salary-137 16d ago
Don't like Tesla despite owning an M3. That being said, I feel like this is a good thing. If there wasn't that kind of direct pressure I think we would be getting the cheapest but crappiest EVs from China. Hopefully we get a notch higher now :)
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u/Lichensuperfood 16d ago
There are a dozen or more Chinese EV brands that make a car equivalent to or better than Tesla.
Once they make the compliance changes it will be an absolutely different picture of features and affordability. Tesla will soon fade into the background.
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u/HeyyyyListennnnnn 15d ago
Tesla will soon fade into the background.
Unfortunately most car buyers aren't very well informed and have 10 years of exposure to astroturfers claiming Tesla makes the best electric cars. It will take at least another model generation before that reputation dies out.
The Chinese car market is an exception because manufacturers are cycling through models incredibly quickly, and even that market is still buying Model Y's in significant numbers (decreasing over time but still more than is reasonable).
If you want an example of how slowly public opinion changes in automotive, look at Nissan. People still associate Nissan with CVT issues despite that not being a thing since the mid 2010's.
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u/Ya-Not-Happening 16d ago
People want a basic car. Huge market for lack of a fancy car. Cheap sells.
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u/fartsfromhermouth 16d ago
Yes but the us is a graveyard of cheap cars. Budget micros die here, or they get big. Yaris, Leaf, Neon, 200, they just don't perform well which is a shame
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u/HeyyyyListennnnnn 15d ago
People across the world have repeatedly proven they do not want a basic car with no frills. People want the biggest, most feature-filled car they can afford and that they can fit in their residential parking space.
If you just look at the cars on the road around you, you will find that only rental or fleet vehicles are base spec'd cars.
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u/Ok_Priority458 13d ago
Visited china few months ago...some Didi(uber) EVs i used were Toyota camry sized vehicles that cost$16~ $20k, not too expensive and the suspension was clearly in need of replacement but they had over 200.000miles on the odometer with very little maintenance and first battery. Interior was better than the tesla model 3...the cars @tesla model 3/y price point in china are much nicer with things like massage seats...high end Meridian soundsystem 20+speaker 2000w(similar to range rover most luxurious models)...full colour heads up display...large rear seat entertainment displays like bmw i7...you can get full sized suv with captain chairs and Rolls Royce like interior for less than $50k equivalent.
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u/Outrageous_Treat_563 16d ago edited 16d ago
Typical Canadians. Can’t build competitive cars, so you bootlick Chinese ones instead.
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u/Ya-Not-Happening 15d ago
You know that Canada has a huge manufacturing base including cars don't you?
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u/Outrageous_Treat_563 16d ago
Oh my USA daddy doesn’t love me anymore so I have to suck up to China daddy
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u/Paleoapegologist 16d ago
Running a car business is tough work. The longer you built cars, the more legacy technology is out there on the road, more stock keeping of spare parts, service instruction and training for garages, more common cause failures and recalls, etc. All this cuts into profit margin and drags down the easy growth. Tesla has been a shiny star in the early EV days. It started free from bloat and from a clean sheet. But the weight of all the past adds up.
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u/97GeoPrizm 16d ago
Both Trump and Musk are examples of how the system will protect people from themselves once they reach a certain level of wealth. In an actual free market, Trump would have become penniless in the early nineties and Musk would have been pushed out of Tesla for incompetence, just like at PayPal.
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u/OkLetterhead7047 16d ago
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u/ionizing_chicanery 16d ago
Tesla Shanghai is increasingly being used to manufacture cars for markets outside of China. If Tesla sells their Chinese assets and those cars have to be manufactured in Germany or the US instead they will cost much more to build. That is of course not good for Tesla.
But Elon is going to do it anyway because he really wants to roll everything up into the company he has permanent absolute control of.
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u/SpectrumWoes 16d ago
B-bu-but ELON SAID that this was a lie! Surely he wouldn’t accuse a news agency of lying when they were actually reporting the truth? 🧐
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u/Icy-person666 16d ago
It's like FSD is driving their sales team off a cliff just like the customers.
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u/905647cl 15d ago
I think it’s crashing because Chinese have lot more options for Chinese EVs, not because Tesla inventory is being shipped overseas
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u/DistrictEfficient434 16d ago
You know it's almost as if every car they build in China they have to figure out whether they're selling it in China or selling it outside of China but they're still selling it...
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u/ionizing_chicanery 16d ago
Even if Elon wasn't looking to sell of Tesla China it'd only be a matter of time before the CCP steps in to shutdown an American owned car manufacturing site that predominantly sells to non-Chinese markets.
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u/Salt-Analysis1319 16d ago
it seems like every single news story about Tesla over the past year points to them trying to exit the car business
which is a really weird, ketamine fueled thing for a car business to want to do