According to media reports citing, one should not dwell too deep into reports about Tesla selling just 211 cars in China last month.

According to reports published on Tuesday, there had been a drop of 70 per cent in the sale of Tesla cars in China in October compared to the same month a year ago, said an official from the China Passenger Car Association. WM Motor CEO Freeman Shen called the report “misleading information” while speaking at CNBC’s East Tech West conference in the Nansha district of Guangzhou, China.

“I doubt that number because, as a person who has been working in the Chinese auto industry for many years …the Chinese Passenger Car Association is not always accurate,” Shen said.

Since it is a trend that among auto companies in China to report their data through a number of different channels, China vehicle sales are “always kind of a mystery”, said Shen. Companies are allowed to disclose vehicle sales “at free will” with the Chinese Passenger Car Association, he said and added that it can be “any number you want.”

According to a news report by news agency Reuters, the October China sales plunge “wildly inaccurate,” said a spokesperson of the US electric car maker Tesla in a statement on Tuesday. There were no comments available from the Chinese Passenger Car Association.

In 2015, the electric vehicle company WM Motor was founded by Shen, who is also as a former executive at Fiat Chrysler. Tesla has expressed its desire to become the “Ford of electric cars in China” and would launch cars and models that would be appealing to the mass audience where the prices would range between $30,000 and $45,000. The costs are very high for many electric vehicles in the Chinese market. For example, Nio’s ES8 is priced at $70,000 and the Model X of Tesla carries as price of almost $130,000.

Earlier in a television interview, Shen said he is “happy” that Tesla entered the Chinese electric vehicle market and had added that Elon Musk’s company is not considered ot be a direct rival of his company.

“We are looking at the middle level of the market,” Shen said.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), China is the largest market in the world for electric cars and the market reported more than half of global electric car sales in 2017. There are currently about 1.23 million electric cars in the Chinese market. In contrast, there are about 820,000 electric cars in Europe and about 760,000 in the U.S.

In the next five to 10 years, there would be sustained growth in the Chinese electric car market, said Shen. He however said that the market would also witnesses some consolidation among the many start-ups.

(Adapted from CNBC.com)

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