Warren Buffett-Backed BYD Sees EV Sales More Than Double In June, Outdoes Rival Nio By 148%

Chinese automaker BYD Co Ltd’s BYDDF all-electric vehicle sales more than doubled in June and the company sold more than twice as many electric vehicles as its U.S.-listed rival Nio Inc NIO.

What Happened: Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B) Chairman Warren Buffett-backed BYD sold 20,016 battery-powered electric vehicles in June, a 102% jump year-on-year.

In comparison, the Shanghai-headquartered Nio delivered 8,083 vehicles in June, up about 116% when compared with year-ago numbers, and also climbed back sharply from last month when sales were hurt due to the volatile chip supplies.

For the first half of 2021, BYD’s battery-powered electric vehicle sales jumped to 93,440 vehicles, a YoY increase of about 102%.

Nio delivered 41,956 vehicles in the first six months this year.

See Also: Nio Posts Record Monthly-Deliveries In June As High Demand Overshadows Chip Shortage, Sees 116% Surge

In the New Energy Vehicle (NEV) category, which includes hybrids, BYD scored 41,366 vehicle sales in June, a year-on-year jump of nearly 192%.

China uses the term NEV to define plug-in electric vehicles eligible for public subsidies which also includes plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and fuel cell electric vehicles besides the battery electric vehicles (BEVs). These could be cars, buses, trucks, or two-wheelers.

BYD’s NEV portfolio consists of cars, buses, and trucks. The automaker’s battery-powered electric vehicle sales is the metric most-suited for like-to-like comparison with Chinese peers and also Tesla Inc TSLA.

Interestingly, BYD's oil-guzzling sales dived 50.7% to 9,649 vehicles in June, with sales of oil-fueled SUVs more than halving to 6,930 vehicles during the month.

See Also: Buffett-Backed BYD Says Its NEV Sales Will Outdo Tesla China Numbers In June — Why That's Not Really A Fair Comparison

Why It Matters: The combined delivery numbers in June posted by three of China's most popular EV-centric startups— Nio, Li Auto Inc LI and XPeng Inc XPEV - exceeded BYD’s standalone sales after several months.  

Li Auto delivered 7,713 vehicles in June and Xpeng delivered 6,565 vehicles during the month.

It's worth noting that sales to dealers may not immediately reflect actual deliveries taken by customers for any automaker.

Price Action: OTC shares of BYD closed 2.98% lower at $56.99 on Tuesday. Those of Nio closed 0.98% lower at $50.40, Li Auto closed 5.82% lower at $32.67 and Xpeng closed 0.18% higher at $43.74.

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Photo: Courtesy of BYD