Don't read too much into reports that Tesla sold just 211 cars in China last month, a top Chinese auto executive said Wednesday. An official from the China Passenger Car Association told Reuters on Tuesday that Tesla's China sales dropped 70 percent in October from a year earlier. Speaking at CNBC's East Tech West conference in the Nansha district of Guangzhou, China, WM Motor CEO Freeman Shen called the report "misleading information." "I doubt that number because, as a person who has been working in the Chinese auto industry for many years …the Chinese Passenger Car Association is not always accurate," Shen told CNBC's Eunice Yoon.

Freeman H. Shen, Founder, Chairman & CEO of WM Motor, speaks during Fireside Chat on Day 2 of CNBC East Tech West at LN Garden Hotel Nansha Guangzhou on November 28, 2018 in Nansha, Guangzhou, China. Dave Zhong/Getty Images for CNBC International

Shen said China vehicle sales are "always kind of a mystery" because automakers report their data through a number of different channels. He added companies can disclose vehicle sales "at free will" with the Chinese Passenger Car Association, adding it can be "any number you want." In a statement Tuesday, a Tesla spokesperson called the October China sales plunge "wildly inaccurate," according to Reuters. A spokesperson for the Chinese Passenger Car Association wasn't immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.