Tesla Model Y approved for Chinese government car purchases

The best-selling car made by Tesla, the Model Y electric vehicle, has been included for the first time in the list of cars a local government can consider buying for its service fleet, says the Chinese media outlet The Paper.

First, Tesla owners have had a hard time in China, as their cars have not only been banned from driving on certain streets but also barred from parking lots near sensitive governmental compounds over concerns about data collection.

The Jiangsu provincial government recently announced that it will purchase new energy vehicles for the government to use, launching 56 batches of electric and plug-in hybrid models.

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Other than the Volvo XC40, which is the only non-Chinese-branded car, all the others posted are produced at Tesla's Shanghai facility. The number of Model Y to be procured remains unspecified.
This would come at a time when Tesla has been finding it hard in the Chinese market. Shipments of Chinese-made Tesla's in the first half of 2024 declined 9 per cent compared with the same period in 2023.

That is most likely a multicausal plunge: from the threat of tariffs on Chinese exports to the rise of domestic competition in automaking.

Recently, the company's CEO, Elon Musk, visited China, and this is where the sun seemed to be shining. Since his meeting with Premier Li Qiang in April, he stamped approval from China for some support for the company.

Among other things, this included approval for the data training centre and a possible rollout of Tesla's Full Self-Driving software, just in case there are no strains between China and the United States.

(With inputs from Reuters)