BYD beat Tesla on sales in final quarter of 2023

BYD overtook Tesla as the global market leader for electric cars for the first time in the fourth quarter of 2023. The Chinese manufacturer sold more than half a million electric cars between October and December. Although Tesla set a new delivery record in Q4, it fell short of this mark.

BYD sold 526,409 electric cars worldwide in the final quarter of 2023, more than Tesla with its 484,507 electric cars delivered in the equivalent period. BYD also delivered 416,242 plug-in hybrids. As is well known, the Texan competitor, which published its latest production and delivery figures yesterday, only builds BEVs. Expressed as a percentage, the Chinese manufacturer was 8.65 per cent ahead of Tesla in terms of deliveries in the past three months.

However, Tesla remained ahead of BYD in 2023 as a whole with 1,808,581 electric cars delivered. The Chinese delivered 1,574,822 electric cars in the past twelve months. The trend is rising at different rates for both manufacturers. Tesla’s BEV sales climbed by 38 per cent year-on-year, BYD’s BEV passenger car sales by 73 per cent.

In the past, BYD also built combustion vehicles, but since March 2022, it has focussed exclusively on new energy vehicles (NEVs), which include electric cars and plug-in hybrids. Incidentally, the 2,128 electric commercial vehicles sold by the Chinese manufacturer in the fourth quarter are not included in the above comparison.

BYD achieved a strong final spurt in December with 341,043 NEVs sold. This was the eighth monthly record in a row, with the December result representing an increase of 45 per cent compared to December 2022 and 13 per cent compared to November 2023. Thanks to the strong final accent, the manufacturer sold 3,024,417 electric vehicles across all vehicle types (1,574,822 BEVs and 1,438,084 PHEVs) in 2023 as a whole. At the beginning of the year, the Group set the 3 million mark as a minimum target – and has now achieved it.

BYD’s 2023 sales figure represents growth of 62 per cent compared to 2022, with BEV sales, broken down by drive type, climbing by 73 per cent as mentioned, while PHEV sales increased somewhat less dynamically by 52 per cent.

The Chinese manufacturer’s exports have recently been in the region of 30,000 NEVs per month, reaching 36,095 units for the first time in December. BYD therefore continues to sell the lion’s share in its own country.

cnevpost.com