BYD's January EV sales are 48% up

BYD finished 2023 on a high note, nudging Tesla out of the first spot in EV sales for Q4. The January sales numbers are already in and reaveal the growth continues.

In January BYD managed to shift 201,493 cars out of which 105,304 were battery-powered. the rest wete plug-in hybrids as BYD stopped making ICE cars back in 2022.

The lower seasonal demand means numbers are down from Decemnber, but in a fairer comparison to January 2023 the pure EV sales increased 48%. The PHEVs increased by a more conservative 21% and the gap between the two will likely increase in the future.

The bestsellers leading BYD sales numbers were the little Seagull with 33,447 units sold, followed by Dolphin in a distant second place with 18,905 finding new homes. The electric sedan Han managed to place third with 11,101 vehicles sold with Seal and Tang closing the top 5 with 8,347 and 5,211 sold respectively.

While BYD’s domestic market is growing at a steady pace, its exports are expanding at a much faster rate. The company shipped 36,174 vehicles abroad - that’s actually more than in December and over 3 times more than in January last year. That’s a big start for the new year and this number will only grow with BYD only now reaching a number of new global markets.

BYD overtaking Tesla in BEVs alone created some waves in the automotive world. While it only managed so in the last quarter of 2023 when BYD sold 42,000 more EVs than Tesla, the title for the full 2023 stayed with the US automaker. Odds are the positions will be reversed in 2024, Cybertruck or not.

It’s easy to see why BYD is having so much success with its sales - the company has 3 sub-brands selling their own vehicles, and a rich portfolio catering to a very diverse customer base. With over 100 models in various trims there's more selection than any other maker out there.

The general manager of BYD painted an interesting picture when asked about Tesla and the competition between the two companies. Yunfei Li called Tesla " a peer and client" not a competitor, and suggested that the two companies should work hand-in-hand to grow EV adoption, rather than worry about competing with each other.

Via