China’s BYD outstrips Tesla in electric vehicle sales

The Chinese manufacturer BYD surpassed the American Tesla for the first time in the sale of electric vehicles during the last quarter of 2023, a sign of China’s growing strength in the global market for this type of transport.

On  Tuesday, Tesla reported that in the fourth quarter of 2023, it had sold 484,507 electric vehicles, less than the 525,409 sold by BYD in the same period.

Still, Tesla remained ahead of BYD throughout the year and delivered approximately 1.81 million electric vehicles to its customers around the world, meeting its expectations and slightly exceeding Wall Street estimates.

Thus, Tesla’s electric vehicle deliveries grew by 38% compared to the previous year.

According to the company, the vast majority of the vehicles it produced last year, 96% or 1,775,159 units, were Model 3 and Model Y. The rest, about 70,826, were mostly the more expensive Model X and Model S.

In December, Tesla began delivering a tiny number of units of its Cybertruck pickup truck.

Compared to that data, BYD sold almost 1.6 million electric vehicles last year, an increase of 70% compared to 2022.

Tesla’s figures, better than expected, show that the brand still enjoys popularity even though the image of its CEO, Elon Musk, is in question due to his comments on social networks and the bellicose stance he has adopted towards unions, regulators, and clients.

Musk’s forecast
Recently, Musk assured that in 2024 Tesla will grow “faster” than any other car company in the world.

Meanwhile, the rapid growth of BYD, backed by well-known American investor Warren Buffett, shows the strength of the electric vehicle sector in China.

BYD, a leader in the Chinese electric sector and the third largest manufacturer of batteries for electric cars in the world has recently set its sights on the European market with a production plant in Hungary to avoid any type of trade restrictions.