Chinese EV giant BYD Co. BYDDY sold 296,446 new energy passenger vehicles in January, marking a jump of nearly 47.5% from last year, thanks to a major jump in plug-in hybrid passenger vehicle sales, the company said on Sunday.
What Happened: Pure passenger EV (battery electric vehicle) sales of the Chinese player rose to 125,377 in January, marking a rise of 19% from the corresponding month of last year.
Plug-in hybrid passenger vehicle sales in the period rose 79% to 171,069 units.
The company also sold 4,092 commercial vehicles in January, including 286 buses.
Why It Matters: BYD is the biggest rival to American EV giant Tesla.
The company first took over Tesla as the world's largest BEV seller in the fourth quarter of 2023. However, Tesla took back the crown in the first quarter of 2024 and held on to it for three consecutive quarters until the last quarter of 2024.
Tesla reported in January that it delivered 495,570 BEVs in the three months through the end of December, significantly lower than the 595,413 BEVs sold by BYD in the period.
However, for the whole year, Tesla delivered 1,789,226 BEVs, retaining its position as the bestselling pure EV brand for the year, despite a year-over-year drop in deliveries of 1.1%. BYD, meanwhile, managed to deliver only 1,764,992 BEVs in the twelve months, or 24,234 units less than Tesla.
BYD, however, makes plug-in hybrids too, unlike Tesla which makes solely battery electric vehicles.
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