BYD to overtake Volkswagen ventures as China’s top producer

HONG KONG — BYD (Build Your Dreams) is set to overtake perennial market leader Volkswagen as China’s biggest carmaker in 2024 after outselling the German company’s joint venture units in the first 10 months, as the growing popularity of battery-powered cars strengthens its market dominance.
The Shenzhen-based company delivered 2.9 million pure electric and hybrid cars to customers worldwide this year through October, a 35% increase from a year earlier. Sales are likely to top 4 million units this year, according to data provider CnEVPost, with year-end promotions likely to fire up sales.
“Its performance this year will largely beat Wang’s annual forecast of 3.6 million units,” said Phate Zhang, founder of the Shanghai-based company. “It now has an overwhelming advantage over all assemblers in China.”
VW’s factories in China have delivered 2.23 million electric vehicles (EVs) and petrol-powered cars in the first 10 months of this year. The German car maker has been the market leader in China’s car industry since it started local joint ventures with SAIC Motor and FAW from 1984.
BYD also outsold Tesla in the third quarter in terms of volume and revenue. It delivered 1.13 million electric cars in the three months to September 30, a 38% jump from a year earlier. Tesla recorded 462,890 units in the same period. Revenue jumped 24% to 201.1 billion yuan (US$28.2 billion) versus Tesla’s US$25.2 billion.
Meanwhile, the Shenzhen-based company achieved a new milestone when it churned out its 10 millionth unit after more than two decades in the business. The Denza Z9 was delivered to Feng Ji, the founder and CEO of Game Science, which produced the hit video game Black Myth: Wukong.
“The achievement shows that China has evolved from an automotive powerhouse based on volume to a leader based on manufacturing heft,” BYD said in a statement. “China’s automotive sector is now on track to further high-quality growth.”
BYD, which counts Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway as a minority shareholder, achieved the feat in 21 years. Chairman Wang Chuanfu, then a government-sponsored researcher, founded the company in 1995 as a producer of rechargeable dry cells and batteries for mobile phones, before venturing into car manufacturing in 2003.
Its first vehicle was the F3, a bare-bones minicar with a 1.6-litre petrol engine that sold for as little as 40,000 yuan (US$5,522) when it hit the market in 2005. BYD unveiled its first electric car in 2008 – a plug-in hybrid known as F3DM, which was priced at 149,800 yuan.
“Banking on its value-for-money plug-in hybrid and pure electric cars, BYD has been drawing thousands of first-time EV buyers in China,” said Zhao Zhen, a sales director at Shanghai-based dealer Wan Zhuo Auto. “Its budget models are becoming the first choices for many young, price-conscious motorists.”