Tesla’s China-made vehicle sales surged nearly 10% in November, marking the strongest annual rise in over a year, even as famed investor Michael Burry renewed his attack on the company’s valuation.
According to data from China’s Passenger Car Association, Tesla sold 9.9% more Shanghai-made Model 3 and Model Y vehicles in November compared with last year, a sharp 41% jump from October. The increase follows Tesla’s launch of longer-range Model 3 and Model Y variants, as well as the new six-seat Model Y L, aimed at keeping pace with rapid innovation from Chinese rivals.
Still, Tesla’s position in the world’s largest EV market is being tested. BYD’s overseas shipments hit a record 130,000 vehicles in November, while Xiaomi and Geely continue breaking domestic sales records with new models. Tesla remains the best-known foreign brand in China, but its market share has fallen as local automakers expand aggressively.
Adding to the pressure, Michael Burry, the investor known for “The Big Short”, labelled Tesla “ridiculously overvalued,” citing its $1.43 trillion market cap and Elon Musk’s $1 trillion compensation package, which he said could dilute investors by 3.6%. Burry previously criticised Nvidia as overhyped and now claims Tesla’s fundamentals don’t justify its lofty valuation.
Burry depicted Tesla fans as gleefully leaping from delusional storyline to another, writing that “the Elon cult was all-in on electric cars until competition showed up, then all-in on autonomous driving until competition showed up, and now is all-in on robots, until competition shows up.”
Tesla shares are up 7% year-to-date, recovering from sharp losses earlier this year following Musk’s public feud with President Trump and weaker sales in Europe and the US. EV demand in the US has also cooled after the expiration of the $7,500 federal tax credit.
Despite the skepticism, Musk continues to bet on Tesla’s AI and robotics future, projecting that the company will lead the market in self-driving cars and humanoid robots, with his Optimus robot expected to sell tens of millions of units globally by 2040.
Tesla’s China sales rebound offers short-term relief, but competition is intensifying, and as Burry warns, investor faith in Musk’s trillion-dollar vision may soon face its biggest test yet.
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