Will Tesla Motors grow sales in China? [Infographic]

Posted on January 19, 2016 by Matt Pressman

As China continues to evolve into a bigger growth market opportunity for Tesla Motors, we wanted to revisit the forecast for this fast-growing market. According to Electrek, Tesla Motors just opened a store in Shenzhen, China which has: "a population of over 10 million (18 million in the metro area), which makes it one of China’s many 'mega-cities'... Last year, Tesla’s vehicles were approved for the city’s 'new-energy vehicles' license plate program, which bypasses the normal lottery system to get a license plate and makes it significantly cheaper. Tesla’s Model S was added to the list of approved vehicles in March 2015, and it presumably helped the company’s sales in China... Tesla delivered 3,025 cars in China during the first 3 quarters of 2015."

Source: Electrek via Tunghim

Also, according to Gas 2, last fall Tesla CEO Elon Musk "told an audience at Tsinghua University that his company will begin building the upcoming Model 3 'affordable Tesla' in a Chinese factory within 2 years... [and] in China, you don’t just buy a new car and then hop over to the Registry of Motor Vehicles and pick up your license plates... you have to enter a lottery to get a registration for the car. Some Chinese drivers wait up to 5 years before they get their car licensed and on the road. But if you have an electric car, you move to the head of the line and can get your registration immediately." For more on this, check out the video below...

Source: AllianceRN

As noted in the video: "China is poised to become the top electric vehicle (EV) market in the world by 2020. Government incentives and hassle free registration processes have encouraged many drivers to make the switch to EVs. In 2014, China registered 75,000 EV sales, giving it a global market share of 25%. In the first quarter of 2015, it registered nearly double that number." This represents a compelling opportunity for an all-electric automaker like Tesla. And, pulling back the lens a bit, with 200 million vehicles projected to be on the road in China by 2020 (see infographic below) the overall automotive market looks prime for Tesla Motors.