BYD Inches Closer To Surpassing Tesla In Global EV Sales (Image: BYD)
China”s electric vehicle manufacturer, BYD, is moving towards becoming the world’s biggest seller of electric vehicles during the last quarter. This is the result of the Chinese automaker”s significant growth in global sales, and moreover, Tesla, which is BYD”s main competitor in the EV industry, witnessed a dip in its third-quarter delivery numbers due to a planned factory downtime.
Tesla”s Chinese counterpart came inches closer to surpassing Tesla to achieve the top spot in the electric vehicle (EV) arena. BYD sold 431,000 battery-powered electric cars during the last quarter, while Elon Musk-led Tesla sold 435,000 electric cars over the same period, reported Bloomberg. This data reveals that the gap of sales between Tesla and BYD is just over 3,000. The major reason for Tesla”s decline was caused by planned downtimes for factory upgrades. By selling almost 431,000 electric vehicles, BYD also registered a 23 percent sales surge from the previous quarter. Meanwhile, Tesla also marked a 27 percent on-year surge in the sales during the July-September period.
According to the data shared by FactSet Research, Tesla sold 435,059 vehicles in the third quarter of calendar year 2023, as against 343,830 units sold in the corresponding period of 2022. It is important to note that BYD, backed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, sold 1.8 million cars last year, over 911,000 of which were battery electric cars (BEVs). However Tesla, which is focusing only on BEVs, achieved 1.3 million units in global sales.
BYD started as a battery manufacturer in 1995 and BYD Auto was emerged in 2003 to create plug-in hybrid and fully electric vehicles. Tesla was created in 2003 by a group of engineers and entrepreneurs. Electric Vehicles are rapidly replacing other modes as various administrations across the globe is focusing on the reduction of emissions to control global warming. At the same time, Chinese EVs are transforming the auto industry. Europe is targeting 100% EV sales by 2035 and Joe Biden-led US administration is planning for EVs to account for half of all vehicle sales by 2030.
