The year did not exactly get off on the right foot for Tesla. Throughout January, the electric vehicle maker saw its shares slide, and in early April the company announced that its sales for 2024’s first quarter had declined nearly 9%–the biggest drop in four years.
Then, in mid-April, an internal memo revealed that Tesla planned to lay off more than 10% of its global workforce.
But now, tides may be changing.
On Monday, April 29, 2024, Tesla's stocks surged by 15.31%, contributing to a 35.49% increase over the past week and a 10.75% rise in the last month. According to Bloomberg, this was Tesla’s best trading day in over three years.
So what happened?
Well, CEO Elon Musk’s trip to China is most likely the key ingredient in Tesla’s sudden comeback.
According to the BBC, Musk made a surprise visit to the country over the weekend to meet with corporate collaborators and government officials and discuss Tesla implementing its self-driving technology nationally.
In China, technologically assisted driving is gaining popularity, with numerous local EV companies leveraging self-driving technology as a key selling point.
Simultaneously, Tesla has seen its sales decreasing in the country over the last year. Bloomberg calculations indicate a decline in Tesla’s share of the Chinese automobile market, from 10.5% in the first quarter of 2023 to just 6.7% by year's end.
However, now it seems that the company–and its investors–are hopeful that by inching closer to rolling out its driver-assistance systems in the world’s largest automobile market, Tesla is moving to reclaim some of its market share, boost its sales, and cling onto its title as the global top EV seller.