- BYD posted its best-ever sales for Q4, turning up the heat on Tesla.
- The Chinese carmaker is competing with Tesla to be the world’s biggest maker of EVs.
- Tesla is reporting its own figures this week, which will determine which company is on top.
BYD has reported record annual sales as it challenges Elon Musk’s Tesla for the status of the world’s top electric-vehicle maker.
BYD sold 1.76 million battery electric cars in 2024, per figures released Wednesday.
That figure puts it within range of pipping Tesla’s annual sales.
That total was part of a large haul of 4.25 million cars sales by BYD, which includes its hybrid vehicles as well as pure-electric.
BYD has been on a red-hot run in recent months, buoyed by aggressive discounts and the booming popularity of its hybrids.
The company, known for affordable cars like the $10,000 Seagull hatchback, sold nearly 510,000 EVs and hybrids in December, the new figures say — a monthly record.
BYD, which in late 2023 recorded higher quarterly sales than Tesla for the first time, is now trying to top the US automaker’s annual sales total.
Tesla is due to report fourth-quarter sales figures later this week, which will show whether BYD managed to outpace it.
Elon Musk’s automaker, which does not sell hybrids, sold around 1.29 million EVs in the first three quarters of 2024.
That means it needed at least 467,000 sales in the fourth quarter to beat BYD’s 1.76 million total for 2024.
Like its Chinese rival, Tesla ended 2024 with a spree of discounts and deals in an attempt to boost sales. The EV maker was also trying to meet its target of selling more cars than it did in 2023.
BYD has grown in recent years to be the greatest threat to Elon Musk’s EV dominance.
The upstart automaker, founded by Wang Chuanfu in 1995 as a battery manufacturer, has rapidly taken market share in China and is expanding internationally.
Like other Chinese EV giants, BYD has been shut out of the US market by tough tariffs. Despite this, the company is building factories in Brazil and southeast Asia, and is aggressively expanding in Europe, where Tesla is also seeking buyers.
BYD did not respond to a request for comment, sent outside regular working hours.
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