It looks like Tesla TSLA -1.64% will make a new version of its most famous car. This could help the electric car company compete with Chinese companies that are growing quickly.
That made shares go up early Tuesday morning. But Tuesday’s factory data was worse than expected, which hurt a lot of stocks, including Tesla.
Reuters reported on Tuesday that Tesla plans to start making a six-seat version of its Model Y in China in late 2025. The company has also told its suppliers to get ready for more work to be done at its Shanghai plant.
Tesla didn’t answer when asked for a response.
In the U.S., Tesla makes the Y with five or seven seats. In China, it only has the five-seat model. It’s not easy to find out what number of Model Ys sold in the U.S. are seven-seaters.
Putting out a new version of a well-known model can help sales. In the early going, Tesla stock was up almost 2% because investors were happy.
But the report wasn’t enough to make up for bad figures on manufacturing. If you want to know how busy U.S. factories are, the Purchasing Managers’ Index from the Institute for Supply Management was 47.2 in August. According to a poll by FactSet, economists thought the number would be 47.5. A number greater than 50 means there is growth. The number for August is the fifth month in a row that the area has shrunk.
At the end, Tesla stock was worth $210.60, down 1.6%. There was a 2.1% drop in the S&P 500 SPX and a 1.5% drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA. GM (-2.75%) and Rivian Automotive (-6.44%) both saw their stock prices drop. GM fell 2.8% and RIVN dropped 6.9%.
A sales boost would be good for Tesla. The Y is one of the most popular cars in the country, whether it’s an electric or gas-powered one. However, Tesla sales growth in China and around the world has slowed down in recent months.
That’s about 7% less than the same time last year, when Tesla sold about 831,000 cars around the world.
Analysts get information about Tesla sales from sources in the business, not from the company itself. In China, Tesla sold the same number of cars (325,000) in July as it did in the same month in 2023.
According to early figures released on Monday by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA), Tesla sold 86,697 cars made in China in August. This is about 3% more than the same month last year. That is a total number that includes cars that are sent out of China. About a third of what Tesla makes at its factory in Shanghai is sent abroad.
Later this month, the CPCA will report on store sales in China.
China made about 7% more battery-electric vehicles last year than it did this year through July. The rise of many of Tesla’s competitors has been better. Li Auto LI -2.36% sold about 240,000 cars, which is almost 39% more than the same time last year. BYD 002594 1.31% sold 1.9 million cars, which is almost 30% more than the same time last year. BYD sells both plug-in hybrids and cars that run on electricity alone. It sold about 856,000 battery-electric cars through July, which is about 14% more than the same time last year.
As of Tuesday, Tesla stock was down about 15% for the year. Shares haven’t kept up with the market because buyers are worried about growth.
