In China's premium SUV market, Model Y sales of 39,730 units in March were 3.1 times the sales of the Mercedes-Benz GLC.
This demonstrates how popular the Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) Model Y is in China and how the entire automotive landscape is changing.
The Model Y was the best-selling of all SUVs in China in both March and the first quarter, leaving behind Great Wall Motor's Haval H6, which previously held the top spot for a long time.
Tesla Model Y retail sales in China in March were 39,730 units, up 291.4 percent from 10,151 units a year ago and 113.7 percent from 18,593 units in February, according to data released today by China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).
This puts the Model Y at the top of the SUV sales rankings in March, ahead of the second-place BYD Song at 26,723 units, with the Changan CS75 in third at 22,811 units and the Haval H6 in fourth at 19,303 units.
In the first quarter, Tesla Model Y retail sales in China were 74,681 units, up 354.8 percent from 16,422 units in the same period last year, making it the highest-selling SUV in China in the quarter, according to the CPCA data.
The BYD Song was second with 73,704 units sold in the first quarter, and the Haval H6 was third with 71,411 units.
The Tesla Model Y was a particularly strong performer in the high-end SUV market, which starts at more than RMB 300,000.
The Model Y's 39,730 sales in March were 3.1 times that of the 12,748 sales of the Mercedes-Benz GLC and higher than the 11,231 sales of the BMW X3 and the 10,703 sales of the Audi Q5.
In the first quarter, Model Y's 74,681 sales were 1.66 times that of the Mercedes-Benz GLC's 45,037 sales, and higher than the BMW X3's 39,592 sales and the Audi Q5's 36,624 sales.
In the new energy SUV market, BYD Song ranked second in March, Li Auto's Li ONE ranked third with 11,034 units, and Nio ES6 ranked eighth with 5,064 units.
In the sedan market, the Tesla Model 3 also performed strongly in March.
Model 3 retail sales in China in March were 26,024 units, second only to SAIC-GM-Wuling's Hongguang Mini EV at 41,980 units and Nissan SYLPHY at 30,240 units.
Notably, Model 3 retail sales in China were only 2,988 and 4,607 units in January and February, respectively.
The sedan sold 33,619 units in China in the first quarter, missing out on the CPCA's ranking of the 15 best-selling cars in China in the first quarter, announced today.
Tesla sold 65,814 China-made vehicles in March, according to data released Monday by the CPCA.
That's the second-highest number ever after last December's 70,847 vehicles, up 85.5 percent from 35,478 in the same month last year and up 16.5 percent from 56,515 in February.
Tesla China exported just 60 vehicles in March, the CPCA said, adding that this was due to March being the end of the first quarter. This means that Tesla delivered 65,754 vehicles in China in March.
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