Last year, Chinese carmaker BYD outsold Tesla by a large margin thanks to its low-cost electric vehicles. According to the South China Morning Post, BYD has surpassed Tesla as the world’s largest EV manufacturer, but only when fully-electric and plug-in hybrid cars are included.
That’s not to say BYD’s all-electric vehicles aren’t grabbing popular in China, hurting EVs from both global and local competitors like Tesla and NIO. According to Inside EVs, BYD’s fully-electric vehicles are rapidly increasing in sales, mostly in its home market; in 2022, BYD sold over 911,000 EVs internationally, and more than 946,000 PHEVs, for a total of more than 1.86 million.
Moreover, despite the recent pandemic lockdowns in China, the brand is seeing a surge in popularity. Indeed, the SCMP claims that pandemic issues are linked to BYD sales since people seek cheaper cars:
