Tesla now allowed to sell cars in China

Tesla Inc. (Nasdaq: TSLA) has received approval from China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to sell its Model Y SUVs manufactured at the Shanghai Giga plant. At the beginning of this month the company started expanding the production capacity in the factory. The electric car maker applied for permission to sell the Shanghai-made Model Y SUVs in the country earlier this month. After the Model 3 sedan, the Model Y SUVs will be the second car model from the Shanghai factory available to customers in China. The company started selling China-made vehicles in December last year. Tesla had shipped around 13,000 units by October. Tesla was awaiting approval to begin selling the new vehicle in one of the fastest growing electric car markets in the world. Currently, the company has an edge over the competition in the Chinese electric vehicle market, and in the first half of 2020, the company was the leading electric vehicle seller in the country. Tesla's electric vehicle market share was 21% in H1 2020, compared to 6% in 2019. The company gained more market share after starting sales of the China-made Model 3 EV in December 2019. Interestingly, domestically made cars are around 13% cheaper than those imported from the US. Roughly 19% of Tesla's total sales in the first nine months of 2020 came from China, compared with 12% in 2019. Despite its dominant market position in China, the California-based EV manufacturer faces competition from electric vehicle companies operating the Take advantage of hype. For example, with Li Autio and Zpeng, who recently debuted on the US stock exchanges, Nio reported record vehicle deliveries in Q3 2020 and posted strong sales. Tesla increased its vehicle production by around 76% in Q3 2020 compared to Q2 2020. This resulted from an increase in production at the Shanghai Giga factory, which contributed significantly to compensating for production declines due to the COVID-19-related closure of the California factory.