China's BYD has already more than doubled its electric car sales this year as compared to 2021. In 2023, it'll start selling cars in Japan and Mexico.
www.businessinsider.com
In 2021, the Warren Buffett-backed carmaker
shipped some 320,000 pure electric vehicles (not including the plug-in hybrid vehicles that still make up much of BYD's sales). This year, it's furiously accelerated output: In the first 11 months of 2022, it's more than doubled last year's numbers, shipping out
roughly 800,000 EVs.
It hasn't quite caught up yet: Tesla
notched 908,573 deliveries worldwide through September (it releases numbers quarterly) and is on track for an annual record of its own. Plus, Tesla's profit margin per vehicle
dwarfs BYD's.
BYD's epic rise comes amid signs that Tesla is losing steam in China, the world's biggest market for electric cars. In October, Tesla
discounted its cars in China. This week, Bloomberg reported that
Tesla is slowing production at its Shanghai factory, potentially signaling decreased demand for its vehicles. (Tesla disputes the report.)
Some industry watchers like Michael Dunne, founder of the EV industry consultancy
ZoZoGo, think BYD is primed to become the EV sales leader and dethrone Tesla. But comparing them is a bit like comparing apples to oranges, he says.
"It's like asking, 'will Toyota surpass Mercedes in overall sales?' Yeah, because Toyota has a full spectrum of vehicles that go from $20,000 to $80,000," Dunne told Insider. "And the lower the price point, the bigger the market of course."
BYD has a few advantages that will propel it to market dominance by 2025, according to Dunne: While Tesla is solidly a luxury brand — its cars go for around $50,000 and up — BYD sells vehicles under multiple brands and at
several price points. The automaker is also one of the world's leading battery manufacturers.