Chinese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer BYD’s sales quintupled last year, surpassing industry leader Tesla.
Key Details
- BYD has been competing with Tesla for its share of the EV market. Last year, its net income jumped more than 400% to around $2.4 billion.
- In 2022, BYD sold around 1.86 million eclectic and plug-in hybrids, making up 30% of Chinese sales in the category. Approximately half of those sales were for fully electric vehicles.
- Tesla, by comparison, sold 1.31 million EVs last year.
- In 2022, BYD completely halted all fossil-fuel-powered vehicle production.
Why it’s news
BYD’s success will help it as it introduces new luxury vehicles in the coming year, which will subsequently boost its earnings. However, the ongoing price war in the Chinese market will likely affect its profit margins as Tesla has reduced its prices on certain models.
The company has also started to expand its reach into foreign markets, including Demar, Thailand, the UK, Australia, and Norway.
The higher-than-expected reported earnings boosted BYD stocks in the Hong Kong market. Shares increased 1.5% before results on Tuesday, though the company is still down about 20% since the pricing wars began in February, Bloomberg reports.
Some of the company’s deceleration is also due to declining car purchases in China. Sales fell at the beginning of the year during the Lunar New Year holiday.
BYD’s founder Wang Chaunfu is expected to host a post-earnings event in Hong Kong Wednesday morning.