BYD has Tesla in its sights as EV and hybrid sales hit record

BYD’s sales of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles hit a record in November, helped by price cuts as the Chinese company tries to meet its annual target and topple Tesla in worldwide quarterly deliveries.

Still, last month’s sales of 301,378 passenger electric and hybrids were relatively flat compared with October, even as they registered a 31 per cent increase from a year earlier, according to a company filing on Friday (Dec 1).

China’s biggest auto brand sold 170,150 fully electric vehicles in November, taking its total for the first two months of the October-December quarter to 335,655. Tesla, which doesn’t release monthly numbers, sold 435,059 EVs in the July-September quarter.

Shenzhen-based BYD aims to sell 3 million hybrids and EVs this year, and November’s figure lifts it to 2.67 million so far in 2023.

For Elon Musk’s Tesla, a revamped Model 3 and stainless-steel Cybertruck launch may provide a lift towards its 1.8 million sales target for 2023. Tesla has also been gradually adjusting prices in the US and China, where it initiated a price war in late 2022.

BYD’s Shenzhen-listed shares are down 23.3 per cent this year. It fell 1.1 per cent on Friday. BLOOMBERG