BYD sales jump 48.96% in April

BYD Co., the world’s largest new energy vehicle maker, said Wednesday that its sales in April surged nearly 50% from a year ago as the Shenzhen-based automaker continues to lead green car sales in the world’s largest auto market.

BYD, which earlier this week posted a net profit of 4.57 billion yuan (US$631 million) in the three months to March, sold 313,245 plug-in hybrid vehicles and pure battery electric vehicles in April, an increase of 48.96% from a year earlier and 3% higher month on month.

In the first four months of the year, BYD’s sales expanded 23.24% year on year to 939,508 vehicles, allowing the firm to retain its leadership in China’s new energy vehicle (NEV) market, where NEV sales account for about 60% of the global total.   

It’s the second month in a row that BYD’s sales exceed 300,000 units. The Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway-backed firm shipped 302,459 cars, or an increase of 46.06% from a year ago, to customers in March after its sales dropped sharply in February, due partly to the Chinese New Year holiday.

In breakdown, some 43% of the cars sold last month were battery-powered electric vehicles, while the rest were plug-in hybrids.

BYD stopped producing traditional combustion engine vehicles in March in 2022 and now produces full electric and heavily electrified plug-in hybrid cars only.

In April, BYD, whose vehicles are currently running on the roads of more than 70 countries and regions on six continents, sold 41,011 cars to overseas customers, an all-time high and showing that its vehicles are gaining increasing popularity among abroad.

In 2023, the firm’s international market presence surged remarkably, with exports leaping 334.2% to 242,765 units, compared with 55,000 in 2022.

Thanks to high vertical integration that leverages its cost lead in battery cells, vehicle integration, powertrain, auto chips and electronics modules, BYD has massive cost advantages over its over foreign competitors.

In some overseas markets, BYD has dramatically hiked export prices compared with what it charges at home rather than undercut foreign rivals.

According to a Reuters review of BYD’s pricing in five of its biggest export markets, the firm charges more than double, sometimes nearly triple, the price it gets for three key models in China. For example, BYD’s Atto 3, a compact electric crossover, sells for US$19,283 in China. While in Germany, the little SUV is priced at US$42,789, a price that's still competitive with comparable electric vehicles in the German market.  

Company chairman Wang Chuangfu in March told investors in a private meeting that BYD expects exports to help shore up profitability this year as a domestic price war weighs on its margins.

BYD sells most of its cars, priced between 100,000 yuan and 200,000 yuan, in China, the world’s largest auto market. 

In the first quarter, BYD held a 33.1% share of the Chinese green car market.

Meanwhile, three of China’s electric vehicle upstarts -- Li Auto, Xpeng and Nio -- posted mixed sales figures for April as an ongoing price war started in February by BYD shows no signs of abating.

Li Auto, the first electric vehicle startup in China to turn a profit, delivered 25,787 vehicles last month, 0.4% higher compared with a year earlier but slumping 11% month on month. But the Beijing-based electric vehiclemaker’s deliveries for the first four months reached 106,187 units, 35.6% higher from a year ago.

Guangzhou-based Xpeng’s deliveries edged up 4% from a month ago but surged 33% year on year in April to 9,393 vehicles, bringing its overall deliveries so far this year to 31,214 units, 23% higher from a year ago.

Nio’s April deliveries skyrocketed 134.6% year on year to 15,620 units, an expansion of 31.6% month on month. The Shanghai-based carmaker’s sales during the January-April period reached 45,673 vehicles, 21% higher than a year earlier.

China’s new energy vehicle sector, one of the key growth engines for the national economy, is expected to grow 20% in 2024, according to a forecast by Fitch Ratings in November.