Nio Inc. (NYSE: NIO),
Xpeng Inc. (NYSE: XPEV), and
Li Auto Inc. (NASDAQ: LI) in April due to the handful of negative PR issues in China stemming from safety issues, military spy noise, and the protest at the Shanghai Auto Expo, according to Ives.
He added that Tesla's apparent decision not to expand its flagship Shanghai Giga factory due to rising U.S.-China tensions and tariff issues will “raise some questions.”
Further, Ives noted that the chip shortage issues faced by the Palo Alto-based company are putting more pressure on production and logistics to fulfill demand globally.
However, the analyst believes that overall China demand is on a 300,000+ annual run rate and is poised to represent roughly 40% of deliveries for Tesla by 2022. China is the company’s second-largest market after the U.S.