Elon Musk expects that the Chinese electric car maker will likely become Tesla’s closest competitor, while stressing that the American manufacturer is currently “winning in China,” reports CNBC, quoted by News.ro.
In China, Tesla has a number of electric vehicle competitors, including a host of startups such as Nio, Xpeng and Li Auto.
Tesla’s biggest competitor in China at the moment is Warren Buffett-backed automaker BYD. Last year, BYD sold 911,140 electric vehicles worldwide and a total of 1.8 million vehicles, including plug-in hybrids.
In total, Tesla delivered 1.31 million vehicles in 2022.
Musk responded to a question about the competitiveness of electric vehicles during a Tesla call on Wednesday, saying the company is “excited about the future, and well, it’s going to be great.”
Elon Musk expresses his admiration for Chinese manufacturers of electric cars
“We have a lot of respect for Chinese car companies. They are the most competitive in the world…they work the hardest and the smartest…so much respect for the Chinese car companies we compete with. And so if I had to guess … probably the Chinese company will be the second most likely after Tesla,” Musk said at the Tesla conference on Wednesday.
Musk said the “Tesla China team is winning” in the country, without elaborating. In 2022, the Tesla Model 3 became the fifth best-selling new energy vehicle in China, according to the China Automobile Association.
In 2022, cars manufactured by BYD and SAIC-GM-Wuling surpassed the Tesla Model 3.
The Tesla Model Y was the second best-selling electric SUV in China after the BYD model.
Tesla is facing increasingly fierce competition in the electric car segment
Last year, Tesla faced a number of challenges in China, including production disruptions at its Shanghai plant due to the country’s strict Covid policies and component shortages.
Tesla also cut prices for its cars in China in 2022 amid a challenging macroeconomic environment and lower consumer demand.
Not only Chinese automakers compete with Tesla.
Auto giants from the US and Europe also want a piece of the electric car market. Herbert Diess, CEO of German automaker Volkswagen, told CNBC in May that the group he leads could overtake Tesla to become the world’s biggest seller of electric cars by 2025.
At the beginning of January, Volkswagen presented the ID 7 electric model at the CES exhibition in Las Vegas, which will have a range of up to 700 km.
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Source: Hot News
Mary Robinson is a renowned journalist in the field of Automobile. She currently works as a writer at 247 news reel. With a keen eye for detail and a passion for all things Automotive, Mary’s writing provides readers with in-depth analysis and unique perspectives on the latest developments in the field.