Tesla Rival BYD Marks 50% Growth In December Passenger Vehicle Sales, Likely To Trump Tesla In Q4 BEV Sales Yet Again

Chinese EV giant BYD Co Ltd. BYDDY BYDDF said on Wednesday that the company sold 509,440 new energy passenger vehicles in December, marking a jump of nearly 50% from last year, thanks to a major jump in plug-in hybrid passenger vehicle sales.

Sales Numbers For December: Battery electric passenger vehicle sales of the Chinese player rose to 207,734 in December, marking a rise of about 9% from the corresponding month of last year.

Plug-in hybrid passenger vehicle sales in the period rose about 102% to 301,706 units.

The company also sold 5,369 commercial vehicles in December, including 1,375 buses.

Production Numbers: BYD produced 460,719 passenger vehicles in December, including 189,759 battery-electric vehicles and 270,960 plug-in hybrids.

BYD stopped making combustion engine vehicles in March 2022 to focus on electric vehicles. The company makes both battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, collectively referred to as new energy vehicles.

Why It Matters: BYD overtook its American rival Tesla Inc TSLA in the fourth quarter of 2023 as the world's biggest seller of battery-electric vehicles, selling 526,409 battery-electric vehicles. Tesla, however, took back the title in the first quarter of this year and has been holding on to it since.

BYD delivered 595,413 battery electric vehicles in the last quarter of 2024, likely beating Tesla. According to Tesla researcher Troy Teslike, the company is expected to report just 501,000 vehicle deliveries in the quarter.

Tesla is expected to officially report its fourth quarter deliveries after the market opens on Jan. 2.

For the full year 2023, Tesla delivered 1,808,581 vehicles around the globe. To mark a growth over last year, the company has to deliver at least 514,926 vehicles in the three months through the end of December. Tesla has not delivered over 500,000 vehicles in a quarter to date, making this an ambitious target.

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