The carmaker’s brisk sales to taxi fleets and budget-conscious families highlight how layoffs in China’s technology sector and the country’s pandemic-ravaged economy are driving customers downmarket to cheaper, locally built EVs rather than imported models or overseas names like Tesla.
Meanwhile, Tesla sold over 1.3 million fully-electric vehicles worldwide — Elon Musk’s EV firm does not reveal precise data for China alone — which is more than 400,000 cars ahead of BYD’s EV stats but falls short of BYD’s total figures.
That technically makes BYD the world’s largest EV manufacturer, but the catch is that it’s not the clear comparison indicated by labelling BYD the “biggest EV maker in the world,” since rival Tesla does not offer plug-in hybrids.
