BYD's huge production increase leaves competitors in the dust

Amidst fierce competition in China between established automakers and ambitious startups, one company seems to be pulling ahead at quite a pace. BYD has been making headlines with its impressive sales figures, and the latest news indicates more remarkable growth is coming.

Over the past three months, BYD has dramatically expanded its production capacity. Executive Vice President of BYD, He Zhiqi, announced on Weibo that the company increased production by nearly 200,000 units from August to October.

According to the latest reports, the company has added nearly 200,000 employees to its vehicle and parts divisions, ensuring that all production sites are operating at full capacity.

In October, the company sold 502,657 NEVs, surpassing the 500,000 mark for the first time and marking its fifth consecutive month of record-breaking sales. From January to October, BYD sold a total of 3,250,532 NEVs, a 36.49% increase compared to the same period last year. Judging by those numbers, BYD will sell at least 4.3 million vehicles by the end of the year and exceed its 2023 sales by over 42%.

This success story is particularly remarkable considering BYD's relatively recent pivot to focus solely on electric vehicles. In March 2022, the company ceased production of internal combustion engine vehicles, shifting its attention to plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and battery electric vehicles (BEVs). While the two types of vehicles contributed equally to BYD's sales at one point, in the latter half of 2023, PHEVs began to outpace BEVs in terms of sales. This trend has become even more pronounced in 2024.

From January to October 2024, BYD sold 1,877,734 passenger PHEVs, representing a 62.23% year-on-year increase. BEV sales for the same period reached 1,359,193 units, a relatively modest 11.97% increase. Data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) shows that PHEV sales in China (including extended-range electric vehicles) grew by 78.11% in the first nine months of 2024, compared to a 17.79% increase for BEVs.

Via