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AUTOMOTIVE - BEIJING. Sales of U.S. automaker Tesla's China-made electric vehicles rose 19.2% in September from a year earlier, data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) showed on Wednesday.
Deliveries of China-made Model 3 and Model Y vehicles, which are also exported to various markets including Europe, were up 1.9% from the previous month. Tesla sold more than 72,000 EVs in China's domestic market, up 66% year-on-year, its best month this year, according to a company statement on Thursday.
Chinese rival BYD, with its Dynasty and Ocean lineups of EVs and plug-in hybrids, recorded its best month with a 45.56% year-on-year increase in passenger vehicle sales to 417,603 units in September.
The 33,012 BYD cars, or 7.9% of the total sales, were sold overseas, BYD's filing showed.
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With the climb in September, Tesla saw a 12% growth in China-made EV sales in the July-September period, its first quarterly rise this year.
The U.S. EV giant has been extending incentives to encourage consumers in the world's largest auto market where rivals including Xpeng and Nio were racing to launch budget models.
It extended zero-interest financing in late September for some Model 3 and Model Y cars in China by another month to the end of October.
Tesla also plans to produce a six-seat variant of its best-selling, yet aging, Model Y in China from late 2025, Reuters reported.
The EV maker, due to unveil its robotaxi on Oct. 10, said it was on course to launch Full Self-Driving (FSD) advanced driver assistance software in China and Europe next year, pending approval from regulators.
