BYD crowned China’s No 1 selling car brand for 2023

BYD officially overtook Volkswagen as China’s best-selling car brand in 2023, clear evidence its all-in bet on electric vehicles in the world’s biggest automobile market is paying dividends and helping it pass some of the world’s biggest legacy names.

Shenzhen-based BYD chalked up 2.4 million new domestic car insurance registrations last year, data from the China Automotive Technology and Research Center (CATRC) show, giving it a countrywide market share of 11 per cent, up 3.2 percentage points year on year.

The Chinese automaker’s meteoric rise reflects the wider lead Chinese car brands have in developing affordable and hi-tech EVs that are quickly gaining international acceptance.

Firms like Stellantis and VW are now even turning to Chinese car companies to breathe life into their own EV strategies.

BYD had overtaken VW as China’s best-selling car brand on a quarterly basis earlier last year but later data show that’s now its status on a full-year basis.

VW was China’s best-selling brand since at least 2008, when CATRC information became available.

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Among the other top five brands, Toyota Motor and Honda Motor both saw their market shares and sales volumes fall.

Domestic player Chongqing Changan Automobile did benefit from increased sales, though its share held flat.

The change in rankings bodes well for BYD and other Chinese automakers coming into 2024 with overall EV and hybrid sales growth in the country expected to expand 25 per cent to 11 million units.

BYD’s worldwide sales topped three million, leaving it poised to enter the top 10 rankings of global auto sales for the first time, according to GlobalData. Its EV-only sales in the fourth quarter were enough to surpass Tesla for the first time as the largest seller globally. BLOOMBERG