The Chinese manufacturer BYD has overtaken its American competitor Tesla by delivering more electric vehicles in the fourth quarter of 2023 worldwide, a pole position that it should maintain thanks to the strong support of the Chinese authorities which is boosting the local market.
The American manufacturer announced on Tuesday January 2 that it had delivered 484,507 electric vehicles in the last quarter of 2023, which places it, for the first time, in second position behind BYD.
BYD (“Build Your Dreams”) is one of the most prominent electric vehicle brands in China. The group stopped producing cars with combustion engines in 2022 to focus on hybrid and electric models.
Competition from the Chinese domestic market
It delivered 526,409 electric vehicles between October and December 2023, according to calculations carried out by AFP with data published in press releases from the Chinese group. Asked by AFP on this subject, Tesla did not react immediately. On the other hand, over the whole year, the American group retained its first place with 1.81 million vehicles delivered worldwide (+38% over one year), when BYD returned their owners 1.57 million vehicles (+73%).
“BYD has a structural advantage in that a large part of its expansion benefits from very strong support from the Chinese government for electric vehicles,” Neil Saunders, director of Globaldata, commented to AFP. “This helps boost domestic demand which, in turn, strengthens BYD’s position in the export market,” he noted. According to him, Tesla “remains a major player in the electric vehicle market” but the group “will face a lot more competition from China this year.”
During the presentation of third quarter results on October 18, Tesla indicated that it wanted to increase production “as quickly as possible”. The group launched deliveries of its long-awaited Cybertruckan electric pick-up with a futuristic silhouette which was unveiled in November 2019.