Made-in-China Tesla cars wait to be shipped overseas outside its factory in Shanghai in October 2020. Photo:cnsphoto

US electric vehicle maker Tesla said it recorded its best performance in terms of sales in China and exports from the country last month, according to Shanghai Securities News on Saturday, citing company data. 

In August, Tesla achieved its best monthly sales with 44,264 units in China - the first time it surpassed 40,000 in a single month. Its exports of China-made cars hit a record high of 31,379 in the same month. 

Such results improved greatly as the company, which makes Model 3 and Model Y vehicles in Shanghai, sold 32,968 locally made vehicles in July and 33,155 units in June.

Overall, China's auto exports remained robust in the first half of 2021. 

According to the China Passenger Car Association, China exported 950,000 vehicles in the first six months, up 118 percent year-on-year. Secretary-general of the association Cui Dongshu said Tesla exported around 50,000 units from China in the first half, accounting for nearly 30 percent of China's new energy vehicle exports. 

The US electric vehicle maker, one of the largest beneficiaries of China's opening-up in recent years, said it will enlarge its target markets of China-made vehicles to Europe, US, Australia, Japan and Singapore in a bid to bring the "high-quality, high value" made-in-China Tesla new cars to the global upscale markets. 

From entering the Chinese market via imports in 2013, Tesla spent only one year from breaking the ground of its Gigafactory in Shanghai in 2019 and delivered the first China-made Tesla car in 2020, unveiling an era to satisfy global demand by making the cars in China. 

Tao Lin, vice president of Tesla China said on Friday that the company hopes to carry out deeper cooperation with South China's Hainan Province by taking advantage of the favorable policies of building the province a free trade port. She made the remarks when meeting the province's governor Feng Fei at the World New Energy Vehicle Congress. 

Global Times