The carmaker delivered 230,427 pure electric and plug-in hybrid cars in November, an increase of 5.8 per cent over October

BYD is now ‘a reputable car brand in China’, industry watcher says

Warren Buffett-backed Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker BYD maintained its upwards momentum in November by setting another sales record for the year.

The carmaker, which has now set new sales records every month over nine consecutive months since March, delivered 230,427 pure electric and plug-in hybrid cars in November, an increase of 5.8 per cent over October’s 217,816 units, it said in an exchange filing on Monday.

BYD’s November deliveries represented nearly 40 per cent of all new-energy vehicle sales in China of more than 600,000 units, according to data by the China Passenger Car Association.

“BYD EVs are affordable as far as Chinese middle-class consumers are concerned, and more young drivers are paying attention to its vehicles, having decided to tighten their purse strings,” said Eric Han, a senior manager at Suolei, an advisory firm in Shanghai. “It has been very successful in attracting mainland Chinese customers.”

BYD’s November figures also show that the Shenzhen-based company is set to extend its lead over Tesla, after it leapfrogged the US carmaker to become the world’s largest EV builder. BYD dethroned Tesla in the second quarter of this year, delivering 355,021 units between April and June, an increase of 255.6 per cent year on year. The US carmaker’s tally for the second quarter was almost 40 per cent lower.

In the July-to-September period, BYD delivered 538,704 battery-powered vehicles, almost tripling its figure for the same period a year ago, it reported in October. Its quarterly sales volume was 56.7 per cent higher than Tesla’s delivery of 343,000 units, according to the US carmaker’s quarterly earnings report.

The gap between BYD and Tesla’s sales could widen further in the fourth quarter, given the Chinese carmaker’s rapid growth, said Suolei’s Han.

Unlike Tesla and Chinese competitors such as smart EV builders like Nio and Xpeng, which assemble and sell premium cars priced above 300,000 yuan (US$43,098), most of BYD’s models are priced between 100,000 yuan and 200,000 yuan.