Tesla exported 30,529 vehicles from its Shanghai factory in September, up 58.3% from a year earlier, as shipments abroad carried the plant to its best quarter on record while sales in China fell for a fourth consecutive month.
Giga Shanghai’s wholesale volume, which combines domestic sales and exports, rose 5.0% to 95,366 Model 3 and Model Y vehicles, according to China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) data.
That was the plant’s highest monthly total of 2026 and 10.7% more than in August.
The Model Y accounted for 62,948 of the total, up 5.1% from a year earlier, making it China’s second-best-selling passenger car at wholesale in September behind BYD’s Song, according to the CPCA.
Model 3 wholesale volume rose 4.9% to 32,418, the eighth-highest of any model.
September was the 11th consecutive month in which Giga Shanghai’s wholesale volume rose from a year earlier, based on CPCA data.
Third-quarter wholesale reached 275,111, the most in any quarter since the plant opened and 8.1% above the previous record of 254,551 set in the second quarter, by EV’s calculation from CPCA data.
The quarter was up 13.7% from 241,890 a year earlier, according to CPCA monthly figures.
Tesla’s domestic sales in China were 64,837 in September, down 9.4% from a year earlier but up 29.6% from August, by EV’s calculation.
That was its highest domestic monthly total of 2026, and a smaller fall than the 16.7% drop in China’s overall new energy vehicle retail market, which totalled 1.084 million in September, according to the CPCA.
Tesla’s domestic total was the fourth-highest among new energy vehicle makers in China, behind BYD with 246,816, Geely with 119,682 and Leapmotor with 78,202, giving it about 6.0% of the market, by EV’s calculation.
At wholesale, Tesla China ranked fifth among new energy vehicle makers in September, behind BYD, Geely, Chery and the Stellantis-backed brand Leapmotor.
Exports Set a Record Quarter
September’s exports were down 15.5% from August’s 36,119 and 15.6% from 36,171 in June, the last month of the previous quarter, according to CPCA data, following the pattern in which the plant ships abroad early in each quarter and supplies the Chinese market toward the end.
Across the third quarter, Shanghai exported 132,978 vehicles, beating the record of 128,394 set in the second quarter.
Exports were 83.2% higher than in the third quarter of 2025. July alone accounted for 66,330, a monthly record.
In the first nine months, the plant exported 361,972 vehicles, already 60.1% more than the 226,034 it shipped abroad in all of 2025.
China exported 558,000 new energy passenger vehicles in September, up 163.5% from a year earlier, accounting for 60.8% of all passenger car exports, according to the CPCA.
Tesla was the fourth-largest exporter of new energy vehicles from China in the month, behind BYD with 175,877, Chery with 85,990 and Geely with 72,893, according to CPCA figures.
The plant supplies Europe, Canada, South Korea and other markets in the Asia-Pacific region.
In Canada, Tesla switched its Model 3 supply to China-built cars in May and cut the sedan’s price.
Tesla’s registrations in South Korea rose 36% in September, led by the six-seat Model Y L.
The Home Market Slips
The third quarter brought 142,133 domestic sales, down 16.0% from 169,294 a year earlier, by EV’s calculation.
That followed 27,249 in July and 50,047 in August, and left the quarter well short of the 91,998 September sales Tesla would have needed to match last year’s third quarter.
Domestic sales have fallen year on year every month since June, with only February and May showing growth in 2026.
In the first nine months, Tesla sold 381,088 vehicles in China, down about 12% from a year earlier, by EV’s calculation.
Exports took 48.3% of Shanghai’s third-quarter volume.
That left domestic sales slightly ahead of exports for the quarter, after exports overtook the home market in the second quarter, 128,394 against 126,157, for the first time in any quarter since at least 2023.
The plant’s monthly pattern in 2026 has followed the export cycle, with weak domestic months in January (18,485), April (25,956) and July (27,249) at the start of each quarter, and stronger ones in March (56,107), June (52,920) and September.
Model 3 Carries the Decline
The Model 3 has accounted for most of the fall in China.
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, according to CPCA data.
The sedan sold about 2,091 units in China in July, 7.7% of Tesla’s domestic total.
Tesla opened pre-sales for a revamped Model 3 in China on September 1.
Tesla’s share of China’s battery-electric retail market was 7.17% in August, down from 8.33% a year earlier, on a market that grew about 1% to 698,000 units.
For the year to date, the plant has sold 743,060 vehicles at wholesale, up 22.5%, with exports at 361,972 and domestic sales at 381,088.
Discounts Into October
The September total came after Tesla offered direct cash discounts in China for the first time in about 20 months.
From September 7, buyers who ordered and took delivery of inventory cars by the end of the month received 10,000 yuan off any Model Y and 5,000 yuan off any Model 3.
Estimated waiting times for the Model Y stretched to as long as seven weeks by September 18, from one to three weeks a week earlier.
Tesla has extended the cash offer through October, cutting the Model Y discount to 7,000 yuan while keeping 5,000 yuan on the Model 3.
The company also launched a Model Y Performance in China on September 11.
In the same month, Tesla began the largest recall campaigns in its Chinese history, software fixes for 2,975,910 vehicles over emergency door releases and for 2.74 million China-built cars over driver monitoring, both from September 25.
The Global Picture
Tesla delivered 486,532 vehicles worldwide in the third quarter, down 2.1% from a year earlier.
Shanghai’s wholesale figure counts vehicles leaving the plant, rather than deliveries to customers, so the two are not directly comparable.
The CPCA counts exports when vehicles leave China, and they reach overseas customers and registration statistics weeks later.
