FILE PHOTO: People walk past Tesla electric vehicles (EV) at the carmaker's delivery centre in Beijing, China January 8, 2025. REUTERS/Florence Lo/File Photo

BEIJING, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Tesla's China-made electric vehicle sales rose 9.9% in November from a year earlier, as the U.S. automaker grapples with intense competition in China and Europe.

Sales of Model 3 and Model Y vehicles made at Tesla's Shanghai factory, including exports to Europe and other markets, were up 41.0% from October, data from the China Passenger Car Association showed on Tuesday.

The sales jump came as the EV specialist introduced a longer-range rear-wheel-drive variant of its best-selling Model Y in China last month, following the earlier launches of a longer-range Model 3 version and the six-seat Model Y L in the market.

The annual rise in November was the steepest in 14 months.

Tesla's main business has been under pressure, notably from Chinese rivals, while Elon Musk shifts his focus to self-driving robotaxis and humanoid robotics.

EV newcomer Xiaomi has swiftly emerged as a Tesla challenger in China with the SU7 sedan and YU7 SUV, having exceeded its sales target of 350,000 vehicles for this year.

Tesla's biggest Chinese rival BYD saw overseas shipments soar to a record high of over 130,000 vehicles last month. It has continued to outsell Tesla in Europe in recent months.

Locked in an intensifying battle in the domestic budget segment with rivals Geely and Leapmotor and others who kept hitting new sales records, BYD reported a drop in global sales for a third straight month in November.

(Reporting by Qiaoyi Li, Zhang Yan and Brenda Goh; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Tomasz Janowski)