Chinese company BYD has moved a step closer to toppling Elon Musk’s Tesla as the world’s biggest-selling manufacturer of electric vehicles.
The firm said on Monday it had sold a record 526,000 battery-only vehicles in the last three months of 2023.
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For the year as a whole, Shenzen-based BYD said it had sold more than 3 million so-called-new energy vehicles (NEVs), which includes battery-only vehicles and hybrids.
Almost 1.6 million of its total sales were battery-only vehicles, the firm said.
Industry analysts have forecast that Tesla sold around 483,000 electric vehicles in the last three months of 2023 and 1.82 million for the year as a whole.
I don’t mean to give all credit to Tesla, for the success of BYD. But let’s not pretend that many Chinese companies haven’t earned the reputation for (or even specialized in) “quickly learning” and “producing similar work” from competitors. Tesla still entered the country enthusiastically (sold hard-fought knowledge for short term gain), and are already losing their grip. Best of luck to anyone creating affordable EVs.