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On Friday, Tesla, an American electric car maker, announced that the Model Y would be officially delivered in the Japanese market.

The Shanghai factory is the first factory built by Tesla overseas, which is of great significance to Tesla. It plays an important role in domestic sales and foreign supply. According to the data, Tesla produced a total of 936000 electric vehicles worldwide in 2021, of which 484000 came from the Shanghai factory. 321000 of the 484000 electric vehicles produced by Tesla's Shanghai factory were sold in China, and the remaining 163000 were exported to more than 10 countries, including Japan and Europe. According to relevant reports, the transformation plan of Tesla's Shanghai plant began in July, in which the second phase of the production line of Model Y was completed on July 16, while the first phase of the production line of Model 3 was completed on July 17 and August 7. According to the official website, the delivery time of the Model Y rear wheel drive version is expected to be 1-4 weeks, while the Model Y high-performance version and Model 3 rear-wheel drive / high-performance version are all 6-10 weeks.

The Model Y, the second model launched by Tesla in the Chinese market, began delivery in January 2021 and was produced by Tesla's Shanghai factory. It was developed based on the Model 3 platform and shared up to 75 per cent of the parts. It is understood that in Japan, Model Y began to accept orders in early June, but delivery did not begin until September 9 due to the epidemic and production transformation.

According to Tesla's Japanese official website, there are two versions of Model Y on sale, of which the rear-drive version of Model Y starts at 6190000 yen (RMB 300300) and the performance version of Model Y costs 8090000 yen (RMB 392500). Currently, you can't pick up a car until February 2023. It is worth mentioning that the long-lasting version of Model Y is not available in any Asian / Oceania market except Chinese mainland and Hong Kong.

At present, the Model Y is Tesla's best-selling model. According to data released by foreign media "CleanTechnica", Tesla Model Y sold 344900 vehicles worldwide from January to July 2022, while Wuling Hongguang MINIEV ranked second at 245000 vehicles, a difference of nearly 100000 vehicles. In addition, the third-ranked model is also from Tesla, with global sales of 236500 Model 3.

Compared with other markets, Tesla's performance in the Japanese market is relatively mediocre. Prior to this, Tesla sold only the Model 3 in Japan, which was not strong, due to the lack of adequate charging facilities in Japan and government constraints on the development of electric vehicles on the other.

Japan is an island country with a well-developed automobile industry, but local brands such as Toyota, Honda, Mazda, Nissan and Subaru occupy 90% of the Japanese market. Whether German or American, it is difficult to find a development direction in this market. According to sales data released by the Japan Automobile Dealers Association, new car sales in Japan fell 9.3 per cent year-on-year to 290042 in August due to the epidemic and parts shortages, and cumulative car sales fell 13.8 per cent to 2725555 from January to August. According to specific car companies, nine of the top 10 car companies in sales are Japanese local companies, namely Toyota, Suzuki, Daihatsu, Honda, Nissan, Mazda, Subaru, Mitsubishi and Isuzu, of which Toyota is down 26.4% from a year earlier and Honda is down 7.3%. In terms of specific models, the top ones are also traditional fuel models, of which Toyota Yaris fell 24.0% year-on-year, and the main electric car, the Nissan leaf, sold only 1142.

As we all know, Japan, as the world's third-largest car consumer, is particularly negative about the development of electric vehicles. Even Tesla's sales of Model 3 models imported into Japan are very low. According to data released by the Japan Automobile Import Association (JAIA), 8610 pure electric vehicles were sold in 2021, of which 5232 were sold, including Tesla.

Even Tesla can not handle the market, BYD also wants to try the following, maybe Tesla and BYD will compete in the Japanese market in the future. Of course, whether it is Tesla or BYD, how to get Japanese consumers to accept new energy vehicles, especially those made in China, is one of the biggest problems BYD needs to solve.

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