Tesla stock is sliding today as investors eye Chinese sales numbers

Talking about Tesla’s car sales just days after the $1 trillion vote may seem odd, but while it may not be the most interesting thing about the company these days, it’s still important.

Reuters Other news services reported overnight that October Tesla (TSLA) vehicle sales in China fell to a three-year low, around 26,000, citing the China Passenger Car Association. Reports indicated a decline in market share in China, despite a rise in shipments of Tesla vehicles made in China to other markets.

This weighs little on Tesla shares, which recently fell more than 2% as broader markets fell in early trading. (Reads Investopedia Full live coverage of the day’s trading here.) But investors’ attention is largely elsewhere: Stocks jumped yesterday along with U.S. stocks, buoyed by optimism about a possible end to the government shutdown, and fell late last week in part due to selling reaction to news of a shareholder vote to approve a big new pay package for CEO Elon Musk.

The vote removed a potential burden – will Musk continue into Tesla’s next phase of growth or not? – It formalized the company’s commitment to a set of goals on which CEO compensation depends. Many of them point to Tesla’s commitment to evolving into a company powered by robots and robotics.

But car sales remain important. For one thing, they still make up the lion’s share of Tesla’s revenue. One goal requires the company to deliver a total of 20 million vehicles; The last 10 million requires active subscriptions to Tesla’s self-driving program, which cannot happen without vehicle sales.

On a quarterly basis, investors are still interested in Tesla’s “traditional” business. Deliveries in the fourth quarter were higher than expected, although the end of US subsidies will likely increase demand for them and other automakers.