BYD Surpasses Tesla as World’s Top EV Maker

China’s top automaker, BYD, is also now the leading manufacturer of electric vehicles (EVs) in the world. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year that BYD’s electric vehicle sales outpaced Tesla in the final quarter of 2023 and that it is poised to beat the Elon Musk-helmed EV company on an annual basis in 2024. 

Q4 BYD EV Sales Eclipse 500,000 Cars 

BYD had already become the top car marker of any kind in its home country, eclipsing Volkswagen in full-year 2023 sales. Among those overall sales, more than three million were “new energy” vehicles, split about evenly between electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids — a 62% increase compared to 2022. The 1.5 million EVs sold last year, meanwhile, were up 73% over that span. In the fourth quarter, BYD said it sold more than 526,000 EVs worldwide, which exceeded the more than 484,000 deliveries posted by Tesla in the final three months of the year.

China’s Booming EV Market

BYD’s vehicle sales have accelerated alongside the broader EV market in China, where an auto industry group said sales of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles were up by nearly 40% through the first 11 months of last year. Of all cars sold in the country, more than one in three were electric, the Journal reported.

Largest Global EV Makers

Although the vast majority of BYD’s sales — more than 90% — occurred in China, the company reportedly hopes to solidify its position atop the global EV market with sales abroad. In the second half of the year, BYD sales outside China more than tripled compared to the final six months of 2022.

Western Pushback

Some of the world’s major non-China EV markets, however, are wary of low-cost electric models from China overpowering automakers in their home markets. Officials in Europe are investigating potentially improper subsidies on the production of Chinese EVs, while the Biden administration is weighing an increase in tariffs on those vehicles.

Credit: Thomas