Tesla sold 50,047 vehicles in China in August, down 12.4% from a year earlier and the third consecutive monthly decline, according to China Passenger Car Association data released on Tuesday, a day after the company put cash discounts on its inventory for the first time in about 20 months.
The figure nearly doubled July’s 27,249 but was the weakest August since 2022, and it left Tesla’s domestic sales for the first eight months at 316,251, down 12.4%, while Giga Shanghai’s exports reached 331,443, up 114.7%.
For the first time in eight months, the plant has shipped more cars abroad than it has sold at home.
Exports took 51.2% of Tesla China’s wholesale volume this year against 29.9% a year earlier, which is why the wholesale total of 647,694, up 25.6% and above the 2023 record.
Tesla’s share of China’s fully electric retail market was 7.17% in August, from 8.33% a year earlier and 4.21% in July, on a BEV market that grew about 1% to 698,000 units.
The Arithmetic
Tesla announced on Monday that customers who order and take delivery of inventory cars by September 30 receive a final-payment reduction of 10,000 yuan ($1,500) on any Model Y variant, including the six-seat Model Y L, and 5,000 yuan ($700) on any Model 3, stacked on financing, paint and insurance offers already running.
August’s data show what the cash is for.
Tesla’s domestic sales in the first two months of the quarter total 77,296, against 169,294 for the whole of the third quarter of 2025.
Holding the quarter flat would require 91,998 deliveries in September, more than Tesla has ever delivered in China in a month. As a reference, 93,843 units in December 2025 is the record.
Even the two Septembers of 2024 and 2025, at 72,200 and 71,525, would leave the quarter down about 12%, in line with the year to date.
Shanghai ships for export in the first half of each quarter and builds for China in the second, so January (18,485), April (25,956) and July (27,249) were the weak months and March (56,107), June (52,920) and now September carry the quarter.
Only February (38,206, up 43%) and May (47,281, up 23%) have risen year on year in 2026.
Model 3 Is Where the Loss Is
Through July, Model Y sales in China were down 2.3% at 197,671 while Model 3 sales were down 32.7% at 68,533.
In July the Model 3 sold about 2,091 units, 7.7% of Tesla’s domestic total, from 14,266 in June. The CPCA’s August split by model for the domestic market had not been published as of Tuesday and the release is expected for later in the week.
Monday’s package weights accordingly.
The sedan gets the smaller cash cut but carries the 8,000-yuan insurance subsidy added on August 28 and the lowest-entry financing, taking its stacked starting price to 222,500 yuan ($32,800) against a 235,500-yuan list.
Tesla unveiled a revamped Model 3 for Chinese pre-sale on September 1, and a 659-km Model Y variant on the 78.4 kWh pack appeared in a ministry filing on August 14.
The Export Machine
Shanghai exported 36,119 cars in August, up 38.7% on the year and down 45.6% from July’s record 66,330.
The eight-month total of 331,443 already exceeds the 226,034 the plant exported in all of 2025 by 46.6%, and exports exceeded domestic sales in the second quarter (128,394 against 126,157) for the first time in any quarter since at least 2023.
The shipments go to Europe, Canada, South Korea and other Asia-Pacific markets, and they are what has kept Tesla China’s wholesale line rising for ten consecutive months while the domestic line fell.
China’s NEV exports rose about 155% in August while NEV retail fell about 10%, on CPCA figures.
What Else Is in Play
The discounts run into the month in which Tesla begins the largest recall campaigns in its Chinese history: software fixes for 2,975,910 vehicles over emergency door releases and 2.74 million China-built cars over driver monitoring, both from September 25.
Tesla has also yet to give a timetable for FSD in China after denying reports in late August that it would withdraw the product, and CnEVPost reported on September 4 that the Cybercab is to make its Chinese debut in mid-September.
Tesla’s last direct cash reduction on a locally built model in China was in December 2024, when it took 10,000 yuan off the Model Y ahead of the Juniper refresh; since then it has used financing, paint credits and insurance subsidies rather than cash, and list prices are unchanged in Monday’s offer.
