Tesla sales cratered in China, but investors don’t seem to mind

The China Passenger Car Association reported that Tesla’s sales in China fell to 8,621 cars in July, down nearly 70% from June. But the export of cars built at Tesla’s Shanghai plant jumped to 24,347 for July, compared with 5,017 in June. That means total sales of Chinese-built Teslas fell less than 1% overall. Critics say the steep decline of sales to Chinese consumers is yet another sign of the growing problems the company faces in the country. Tesla is contending with increased competition from Chinese EV makers as well as a run of bad publicity, including a “Right now we believe that China will be 40% of deliveries for Tesla by next year,” he said. “So selling only 8,000 in a month, even though it’s a volatile number, it doesn’t give the bulls the warm and fuzzies.”Unlike other automakers, Tesla does not breakdown sales by market and only reports sales quarterly, not monthly. So the numbers from the CPCA are not confirmed. Tesla did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.– Laura He contributed to this report.