Reports in Chinese media say Tesla China has a record inventory of 2301 Model S cars. The number is based on a comparison of the 2014 sales number and the 2014 import number: in 2014 Tesla sold 2499 Model S cars in China, but the company imported 4800 cars, leaving a gap of exactly 2301.
It is the first time that the exact 2014 sales number for Tesla in China has been revealed, 2499 accounts for 208.25 cars a month. The numbers have been confirmed by various Tesla employees and ‘insiders’, speaking anonymously to said media.
Why did Tesla ship so many cars to China, and where are they now?
An anonymous source, quoted by Chinese media, says the huge inventory is partly caused by the many cancellations of orders by Chinese buyers. The cancellations went up in October last year after Tesla announced the new P85D, with many customers cancelling their original order and going for the D instead. But in many cases, still according to the same source, their original-ordered cars were already shipped and underway.