Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory saw a jump in deliveries last month, as its upgraded models struck a chord with wealthy Chinese consumers who favour spacious vehicles.
The assembly line – based in the Lingang free-trade zone, a coastal area linked to the Yangshan Deep-water Port – delivered a total of 90,812 vehicles to customers in September, a record high this year, up 2.8 per cent from the same period in 2024, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).
Compared to its 83,192 deliveries in August, the Shanghai plant, Tesla’s largest production hub worldwide, posted a 9.2 per cent month-on-month increase.00:14
It was the highest since December 2024, when the Gigafactory delivered 93,766 units. The numbers comprise both sales in mainland China and exports to overseas markets like Japan.
“Tesla’s efforts to regain its lost ground in China have taken effect as competition escalated in the market,” said Tian Maowei, a sales manager at Yiyou Auto Service in Shanghai. “It is a rare achievement for the US carmaker in China this year.”
The year-on-year rise of 2.8 per cent also capped a two-straight-month decline. For the first nine months of 2025, the Shanghai factory delivered 606,364 units, down 10.3 per cent on year.
Tesla began delivering its six-seat Model Y L – which is priced at 339,000 yuan (US$47,556), about 30 per cent higher than the basic edition – in September. The vehicle, equipped with LG Energy Solution’s high-performance battery, was the most substantial update of its Chinese-made models to date.
The new variant targets Chinese families with more than one child. Wealthy Chinese consumers prefer spacious, long-range electric vehicles (EVs) for family use.
The three-row sports utility vehicle with a driving range of 751 km was 25,500 yuan, or 8 per cent, more expensive than the five-seat long range edition, which has a range of 750 km.
The vehicle is nearly 5 metres long with a wheelbase of 3.04 metres, slightly longer than the standard version.
Tian said the six-seat Model Y, known as Model Y L, had sparked a buying euphoria in China since Tesla began taking orders for the new variant.
The rosy performance of Tesla Shanghai was in line with its robust sales across the globe. The company said last week that its second-quarter deliveries climbed 7.4 per cent year on year to 497,099 units.
On Tuesday, Tesla unveiled more affordable versions of its Model Y and Model 3 vehicles in the US as it sought to return to the fast track.
The CPCA will publish Tesla’s September sales on the mainland later this month.
In August, the US carmaker reported 57,152 deliveries on the mainland, down 9.9 per cent from a year earlier, according to the CPCA, extending its losing streak to six months in a row.
The performance had exacerbated bearish sentiment surrounding the company because China is its second-largest market, trailing only the US.
In recent months, Tesla has been striving to lure consumers away from Chinese rivals like Xpeng and Xiaomi with price cuts, interest-free loans and new model launches.
Tesla commanded a 16 per cent share of the Chinese EV market in 2020 when its Shanghai Gigafactory began producing Model 3 vehicles for mainland customers. That slumped to 6.9 per cent last year amid mounting challenges from China’s home-grown firms.
In August, Tesla’s sales on the mainland accounted for 4.4 per cent of the nation’s total EV deliveries, which climbed 23 per cent to 1.29 million units, CPCA data showed.