Many said it was not possible, but BYD has managed to sell over 3 million electrified vehicles in just one year.
Back in early 2023, BYD has announced that it is targeting to sell 3 million cars that year. Many observers thought it was a mad idea, given that the automaker had in 2022 only managed to sell over 1.8 million vehicles. But, 2023 is now over and what would you know, the company has not only met, but exceeded this rather ambitious goal by nearly 25,000 cars.
Helped by a bumper December that saw it shift 341,043 cars in that month alone, BYD has in the whole of 2023 sold precisely 3,024,417 vehicles. This figure represents a year-on-year increase of 62.3% from the already record-breaking sales year of 2022, where it shifted 1,863,494 vehicles.
Given too that the Chinese automaker ceased production and sales of vehicles powered solely by internal combustion engines in March 2022, the 3.02 million sales number is represented by vehicles that are of the battery-electric (BEV) and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) variety only. Delving deeper into the nerdy sales statistics, the Shenzhen-based automaker had reported for the split between its BEVs and PHEVs to be around 1.6 million to 1.4 million.
Said stats provided by the automaker also revealed that BYD’s commercial vehicle segment — of which includes electric buses and trucks — accounted for 11,511 units from the total 3.02 million sales figure. And while it is not exactly a massive chunk of the sales pie, what is nevertheless notable is for this segment to have outpaced the growth of its passenger car class by experiencing an uptick of 88.2% in 2023 relative to 2022.
Though in terms of staggering growth trajectory, BYD’s aggressive overseas expansion has saw the company post an explosive year-on-year export growth of 334% in 2023. A total of 242,766 vehicles sold in markets outside China over the last 12 months, which incidentally is actually more than what the automaker has managed to sell overseas in nearly the last two decades in total.
Another interesting factoid from the sales report is for BYD to have achieved a new energy vehicle power and battery installed capacity of 150.909 GWh in 2023. This secures the Chinese company the second position globally in this field, only surpassed by CATL.
To commemorate this annual sales achievement, BYD has announced that it is offering its dealers in its home market a reward of 666 yuan (RM 430) for every car they sold in 2023. It remains to be seen whether this generous offer is extended to its Malaysian partners or not.
What also remains to be seen is whether BYD has finally taken the EV sales crown from perennial king Tesla. The American EV manufacturer is currently expected to release its quarterly sales results soon, but it will likely need to deliver a blockbuster fourth quarter of over 500,000 vehicles in the last quarter if it wants its position as the world’s biggest seller of purely electric vehicles.
