Tesla China shipments slump amid output cuts in Dec 2022

Bloomberg

Deliveries from Tesla Inc’s Shanghai factory slumped in December after a record November as production was temporarily suspended due to equipment upgrades and lackluster consumer demand.
The Texas-based company shipped just 55,796 China-made vehicles last month, almost half the month prior, according to preliminary data released by China’s Passenger Car Association (PCA) on Thursday. The PCA didn’t provide a breakdown as to how many cars went into the domestic market versus how many were exported.
That brings the total number of EVs made by Tesla in China to 710,865 for 2022, or around 54% of the company’s worldwide sales of 1.31 million.
Tesla increased global deliveries by 40% last year, shy of the 50% average annual growth rate it said it expects to achieve over multiple years.
Despite rolling out a slew of purchase incentives in China, including price cuts and insurance subsidies, Tesla voluntarily reduced production at its Shanghai plant for the first time last month and suspended output amid production-line upgrades and slowing demand.
While workers got back into the regular swing of things, the carmaker is going to let employees take at least eight days off during the Lunar New Year holidays to finish the upgrades, Bloomberg reported.
Tesla’s global deliveries missed estimates for a third-straight quarter, prompting JPMorgan Chase & Co analyst Ryan Brinkman to note that
the EV maker’s year-on-year growth is “likely to decline each year from here on out.”
In China, the world’s biggest electric car market, Tesla is also facing intensifying competition from local rivals like BYD Co and Nio Inc. BYD reported annual sales of new-energy vehicles, which includes pure electric cars as well as hybrids, of 1.86 million units in 2022 versus just 603,783 a year earlier. Of those, more than 910,000 were battery electric cars.
Nio Founder and Chief Executive Officer William Li said last month that EV makers in China may face a challenging first half as state subsidies
are phased out and supply chains and consumer confidence take time to recover from the pandemic.

Sony, Honda unveil Afeela EV in challenge to Tesla

Bloomberg

Sony Honda Mobility Inc said its electric vehicle will launch under the brand Afeela, the latest debut in a field already crowded by earlier entrants such as Tesla Inc.
Cars bearing the new marque will capitalise on the expertise of Sony Group Corp and Honda Motor Co, Sony Honda Mobility CEO Yasuhide Mizuno said, unveiling the venture’s first prototype during Sony’s CES press conference in Las Vegas.
The new company is also collaborating with Qualcomm Inc and Epic Games Inc to enable 5G connectivity and entertainment.
The joint venture’s first car to roll out on the CES stage was a sedan featuring 45 sensors, including cameras, radar and ultrasonic sensors.
It is “a software-defined vehicle,” Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon said during the presentation. Sony said it would keep the Afeela cars constantly updated.