Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD has just beaten the long-time auto industry leader in its home market, Volkswagen.
According to Bloomberg, the German automaker has been China’s top automotive brand since at least 2008, when China Automotive Technology and Research Center (CATRC) data became available.
BYD vs. VW (2023 sales)
CATRC’s data revealed that BYD’s new car registrations reached 2.4 million units in 2023. This figure enabled the brand to hit an 11% market share, indicating a 3.2 percentage-point increase.
Meanwhile, China Passenger Car Association’s (CPCA) data suggests that BYD sold 2.57 million new cars, accounting for 11.85% of the volume.
For comparison, Volkswagen’s sales reportedly hit about 2.3 million in the world’s largest auto market last year. It indicates a 0.2% year-on-year decline.
Nonetheless, it still enabled the German automaker to claim the second spot in China’s top-selling automotive brands with a 10.27% market share.
Popular vehicle models in China in 2023
According to Car News China, the popular Tesla Model Y was the top-selling vehicle model in China last year, with sales of 456,394 units.
Two BYD models followed, including the Qin Plus (434,213) and the Song Plus 390,213.
Japanese automaker Nissan’s Sylphy ranked fourth with 376,109 sales, while Volkswagen Lavida completed the top five with 345,879 sales.
BYD beats Tesla in Q4 2023
It is also worth noting that BYD successfully overthrew Tesla in the global electric vehicle market in the fourth quarter of 2023.
BYD’s BEV sales reached a total of 526,409 units. On the other hand, the Musk-led company fell short with 484,507 unit sales.
Nonetheless, Tesla remained the industry leader with 1.8 million BEV sales in the full year 2023. In contrast, BYD only managed to sell 1.6 million units.
All that said, it would be exciting to see how BYD would fare in the Chinese and global electric vehicle market this year.
