This Warren Buffett-Backed Chinese EV Maker Easily Outsold Nio, Xpeng, Li Auto Combined In January

Chinese automaker BYD Company Limited BYDDF reported Wednesday that it had strong electric vehicle deliveries for January.

What Happened: BYD, which has the backing of billionaire investor Warren Buffett, reported January battery-powered EV (BEV) sales of 46,386 units in January, up 221% from the year-ago period.

This represented a 4% month-over-month drop from the 48,317 units of BEVs the company sold in December.

Among its domestic rivals, XPeng Inc - ADR XPEV delivered 12,922 units in January and Nio Inc - ADR NIO sold 9,652 vehicles. Li Auto Inc LI tally was 12,268 units for the month.

To put things in perspective, the U.S.-listed EV trio of XPeng, Nio and Li Auto sold a combined 34,842 vehicles or about 76% of the vehicles delivered by BYD in January.

BYD produced 45,727 BEVs during the month.

Additionally, BYD sold 46,540 plug-in hybrid EVs. Total passenger new energy vehicles sold by the company during the month was 92,926 units, up 368% year-over-year. Commercial EVs sold by the company numbered 242, comprising 146 buses and 96 other vehicles.

BYD's oil-fueled vehicle sales slumped roughly 90% year-over-year to 2,254 units.

Why It's Important: Even as EV adoption remains poised to leapfrog in the coming years, competition among EV manufacturers is heating up. Although the EV market is not a zero-sum game, the companies in the arena need to be on their toes to preserve and grow market share. The component shortage the industry is grappling with hasn't make it any easier for these companies.

That BYD has been consistently outselling rivals, even amid the supply constraints, is commendable.

To BYD's credit, the company also has a thriving EV battery manufacturing business.

Photo: Courtesy BYD