Tesla is getting crushed in China, its most important market outside the United States and one that it had dominated for years.

中国是特斯拉在美国以外最重要的市场，多年来，它在那里一直占据主导地位。

When Liu Jie, 32, decided to buy an electric car in October, Tesla was one of her top choices. But after test-driving a few Chinese cars, she went with a sports sedan from Xiaomi, a consumer gadget maker better known for its smartphones, kettles and robot vacuums.

今年10月，32岁的刘洁（音）决定买一辆电动汽车，特斯拉是她的首选之一。但在试驾了几辆中国汽车后，她选择了小米的一款运动型轿车。小米是一家以生产智能手机、电水壶和扫地机而闻名的消费电子产品制造商。

“Xiaomi is more fashionable,” Ms. Liu said last week in Beijing. “Tesla, for me, it’s a little bit normal. You can see the Tesla Model Y everywhere.”

“小米更时尚，”刘洁上周在北京说。“特斯拉，对我来说，有点普通。到处都是特斯拉Model Y。”

It’s not personal, buyers said. Tesla is still considered a top brand, and Elon Musk, Tesla’s chief executive, is admired in China. Beijing rolled out the red carpet when he broke ground on the company’s first overseas factory in Shanghai. Mr. Musk is credited with igniting China’s local electric vehicle industry.

买主们说这只是就事论事。特斯拉仍被视为顶级品牌，特斯拉首席执行官埃隆·马斯克在中国也很受尊敬。当他在上海出席该公司第一家海外工厂的开工仪式时，中国政府为他铺上了红毯。马斯克被誉引燃中国本土电动汽车行业的人。

But now that market is a blood bath of competition from Chinese rivals. Chinese drivers that once flocked to Tesla are turning more and more to local brands that offer more efficient cars with better technology, sometimes at half the price.

但现在，这个市场充满来自中国对手的血雨腥风。曾经对特斯拉趋之若鹜的中国车主正越来越多地转向本土品牌，这些本土品牌提供更高效、更科技的汽车，有时价格只有特斯拉的一半。

Tesla’s biggest rival, the electric car giant BYD, sold 481,318 cars in the first two months of this year, over three quarters more than it did over the same period last year. Tesla sold 60,480 vehicles in the first two months of the year, a drop of 14 percent from last year.

特斯拉最大的竞争对手、电动汽车巨头比亚迪在今年前两个月售出了481318辆汽车，比去年同期增长了四分之三以上。特斯拉在今年头两个月售出了60480辆汽车，比去年同期下降了14%。

上个月，一辆特斯拉Model Y停在北京的一个配送中心。特斯拉在中国仍然被视为顶级品牌，但现在来自中国对手的竞争更加激烈。

Tesla’s sales in China are plunging as the carmaker faces criticism over Mr. Musk’s role as an aide to President Trump in charge of cutting federal spending. Tesla lost about a quarter of its value over the past month as investors shunned the stock.

就在马斯克成为特朗普总统的助手、负责削减联邦开支的时候，特斯拉在中国的销量正大幅下降。由于投资者回避特斯拉股票，该公司在过去一个月损失了近三分之一的市值。

The threat that BYD poses Tesla in China has been building for years. BYD has sold around one million more cars each year for the past three years. The popularity of BYD has been driven in part by the fact that its cars are cheaper. It has helped that local governments sometimes steer business in the company’s direction.

在中国，比亚迪对特斯拉的威胁已经持续多年。过去三年中，比亚迪每年的汽车销量增加都在大约100万辆。比亚迪之所以受欢迎，部分原因在于它的汽车更便宜。地方政府有时会引导业务向比亚迪的方向发展，也起到了帮助作用。

But a property crisis and a broadly slowing consumer economy have hit households and badly dented people’s appetite to shop, making it hard for all carmakers. Things have become so bad that the government began offering subsidies a year ago for consumers to trade in their old cars. The government increased the incentives last week. Domestic companies have benefited from the subsidies, but so has Tesla.

但房地产危机和消费经济普遍放缓打击了家庭，严重削弱了人们的购物欲望，使所有汽车制造商都举步维艰。情况变得如此糟糕，以至于政府在一年前开始为消费者提供旧车置换补贴。政府上周还增加了激励措施。国内企业可以从补贴中受益，但特斯拉也是如此。

Even amid the economic slowdown, there is still a market for luxury cars, for those who can afford them. Ms. Liu, who had a budget of around $41,000, said Tesla would have been an affordable luxury option compared with the $41,305 Xiaomi SU7 Max that she bought. And while Tesla offers a five-year zero-interest loan, Xiaomi does not offer any financing.

即使在经济放缓的情况下，对于买得起的人来说，豪华车仍然有市场。刘洁的预算约为29万元，她说，与她买的29.99万元的SU7 Max相比，特斯拉也是一个可负担的奢侈选项。尽管特斯拉提供五年期免息贷款，而小米不提供任何贷款。

Many Chinese drivers are also willing to pay more for advanced technology like self-driving, an area in which Tesla has lagged because the government has delayed the company’s introduction of similar or better technology.

许多中国司机也愿意为自动驾驶等先进技术支付更高的价格，而特斯拉在这一领域一直落后，因为政府推迟了该公司类似或更好的技术的推出。

But Tesla faces another problem: demand. Sales are slowing for all cars in China.

但特斯拉面临着另一个问题：需求。中国所有汽车的销量都在放缓。

2024年北京车展上展出的小米SU7的内部。

The policies aimed at replacing gas guzzlers with electric vehicles have helped. In cities like Shanghai and Beijing, car owners can trade in older cars for a new one and get a nearly $2,100 subsidy. In some Tesla dealerships, employees have created a wall with photos of the cars that buyers have traded in — they range from Porsches to Mercedeses and even the occasional Chinese car.

这跟旨在用电动汽车取代高油耗汽车的政策有一定关系。在上海和北京等城市，车主可以以旧车换新车，并获得1.5万元的补贴。在一些特斯拉经销店，员工们在墙上贴满了被买家换下的汽车照片——从保时捷到梅赛德斯，甚至偶尔还有中国车。

But trading in an old car for a new one is usually a one-time thing.

但是以旧换新通常是一次性的。

For many dealers, it is getting harder to sell any car. “It was OK two years ago, but now the market is saturated,” said Chen Jiaming, a salesperson at an FAW-Volkswagen dealership in Shanghai, a collaboration of the Volkswagen Group with the state-owned FAW Group.

许多经销商觉得卖车越来越难了。“两年前还可以，但现在市场已经饱和了，”上海一汽大众经销店的销售人员陈家明（音）说。这家经销店是大众集团与国有的一汽集团合作经营的。

Mr. Chen works out of the “New Energy Vehicle Block,” in the basement of a mall near Shanghai’s Zhongshan Park that was converted from a food court three years ago when electric vehicles first took off in China.

陈家明在“新能源汽车区”工作，它位于上海中山公园附近一个购物中心的地下室，该中心在三年前由一个美食广场改造而成，当时正值电动汽车在中国兴起。

Some of the one dozen dealerships in the basement of the mall have already left, the lights inside were turned off on a recent weekday. A row of claw machines lit up another empty space. In order to keep the FAW-VW dealership from closing, the mall gave it seven months of free rent, Mr. Chen said.

最近一个工作日，商场地下室的十几个经销商中有些已经离开，里面的灯是熄灭的。一排抓娃娃机照亮了另一片空地。陈家明说，为了不让一汽大众经销店关门，商场给了它七个月的免租金待遇。

“I think Tesla’s competitiveness in China will only last for the next two or three years at most,” said Mr. Chen, who owns a BYD. Tesla’s driving technology is no longer cutting edge compared with local rivals, he added.

“我认为特斯拉在中国的竞争力最多只能持续两三年，”拥有一辆比亚迪的陈家明说。他还说，与本土竞争对手相比，特斯拉的自动驾驶技术已不再领先。

2023年，中国苏州的比亚迪展厅。该公司是特斯拉最大的竞争对手。

After years of lobbying the government, Tesla was finally allowed to offer a version of its Autopilot technology to Chinese drivers last month. The feature is a step below the full self-driving feature that Tesla drivers in the United States can use. Drivers who want access to the necessary software update in China have to pay an additional $8,800.

经过多年游说，特斯拉终于在上月被允许向中国司机提供其自动驾驶技术的一个版本。该功能比美国的特斯拉司机可以使用的全自动驾驶功能低一个级别。在中国，想获得必要软件升级的司机必须额外支付6.4万元。

Younger buyers prefer Chinese brands, said Xia Lifang, an employee working at the nearby dealership for Arcfox, a Chinese electric carmaker. Tesla and BYD remain the most trusted brands in China, she said, but people born in the 1990s and 2000s are more open to trying new brands.

在附近的中国电动汽车制造商极狐汽车经销店工作的夏丽芳（音）表示，年轻的买家更喜欢中国品牌。她说，特斯拉和比亚迪仍然是中国最受信任的品牌，但90后和00后更愿意尝试新品牌。

“Our car looks better than Tesla,” Ms. Xia said with a smile.

“我们的车比特斯拉好看，”夏丽芳笑着说。

She added: “You could buy two of our cars for the price of one Tesla.”

她还说：“买一辆特斯拉的钱可以买两辆我们的车。”