Tesla Was China’s Favorite EV Brand. Now It’s Stuck Playing Catch-up

WSJ Tech News Briefing

The Wall Street Journal

News, Tech News

4.6 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 8 July 2025

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Tesla’s fortunes in China are looking bleaker as Elon Musk’s company loses market share to the same domestic EV brands it helped create. The WSJ’s Rafaelle Huang explains why Beijing’s relationship with Musk has grown colder. Plus, the WSJ’s Heather Haddon on why college students and city dwellers have mixed feelings about food delivery robots. Patrick Coffee hosts. Sign up for the WSJ's free Technology newsletter. Programming note: Starting this week, Tech News Briefing episodes will be released on Tuesdays and Fridays, and the TNB Tech Minute will be released twice on weekdays, in the morning and afternoon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	McDonald's burgers are prepared to order, and the patties are made from whole cuts of beef,
0:05.3	sauce from farms across Britain and Ireland, with a pinch of salt and pepper, nothing else.
0:10.2	There's not much else to say, really. That sizzle speaks louder than words.
0:17.6	Served after 11 a.m., subjects of availability.
0:22.7	Welcome to Tech News.m. subject's availability. Welcome to Tech News briefing. It's Tuesday, July 8th. I'm Patrick Coffee for the Wall Street Journal.
0:29.2	China spent years cozying up to Elon Musk. But now, Tesla's sales there are dropping.
0:34.6	And Musk's fallout with President Trump has Beijing reconsidering
0:38.6	his value as a partner. Plus, food delivery robots, are they cute and convenient, or a sign
0:44.8	we're barreling toward dystopia? We look at how human-robot relations are playing out on city
0:49.6	streets and college campuses. But first, for a while, Tesla was the hottest car on Chinese roads, and CEO Elon Musk
0:59.4	was the toast of Beijing.
1:01.4	Now, however, Tesla has started falling behind the local Chinese EV brands that it helped
1:06.3	create, even as the Chinese market grows more important for the company.
1:10.7	Our Asia tech reporter, Rafael Rafael Huang wrote about this.
1:13.9	Rafael, how much have Tesla sales slowed in China?
1:17.5	And what are the most important factors in Musk's plans to reverse that slide at this moment?
1:22.8	Tesla's market share has declined significantly recently.
1:26.0	In May, Tesla's sales in China dropped 30% year-on-year
1:29.6	on year against a 28% overall market price. Its market share is a new energy vehicle, which
1:36.3	includes battery EVs and plugging hybrids, permitted from 11% in early 2021 to just 4% in May, overshadowed by local competitors like
1:48.3	BID and Xiaomi.
1:51.0	Revising this slide is vital for Elon Musk and Tesla.
	...

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