BYD surpasses Tesla as the top-selling EV manufacturer
Leading Chinese giant electric vehicle manufacturer BYD topped sales in the fourth quarter of 2023, securing the first position ahead of the US-based Tesla for the first time.
During the last quarter of 2023, BYD sold 525,409 units excluding hybrids, surpassing Tesla, which sold 484,507 units during the same period, making BYD the world's top electric car manufacturer for the first time and reinforcing its position as a major player in the global EV market.
Tesla, which pushed Nissan out of top position a few years ago, has been the world's leading electric car manufacturer since 2016.
With BYD successfully overtaking Tesla, a clip of Elon Musk giving an interview to Bloomberg several years ago is once again being aired.
In the Bloomberg interview, after being asked whether BYD would become a competitor, Elon Musk laughed and replied to the host, "Have you seen their cars?"
Tesla's cumulative sales for the whole of 2023 reached 1.8 million units. In comparison, BYD's electric vehicle sales totalled 1.57 million units over the same period, a difference of 230,000 units. However, this gap has been gradually narrowing as Tesla left BYD's sales trailing behind by around 400,000 units in 2022.
In the past few years, the electric car industry in China has faced intense competition. Several automotive companies, including Tesla and BYD, have employed strategies of adjusting prices to maintain market share. As a result, the overall profitability of the Chinese automotive industry has decreased.
BYD is gearing up to expand its presence in markets outside of China, such as Europe, Australia, and Southeast Asia.
BYD has also established an electric vehicle (EV) passenger car manufacturing plant in Rayong province, in March 2023. The plant is designed to have an annual production capacity of 150,000 vehicles and is expected to commence production early this year.
BYD's chief executive Wang Chuanfu co-founded BYD with his cousin in Shenzhen in 1995.
The company made a name for itself as a manufacturer of rechargeable batteries - used in smartphones, laptops and other electronics - that competed with pricier Japanese imports.
