Chinese giant BYD says that its global plug-in electric car sales in January exceeded 200,000 units, marking another month of year-over-year growth.

BYD’s passenger plug-in car sales amounted to 201,019 units last month—including 15,923 EVs from its sub-brands. That’s 34% more than a year ago. The recent numbers are not as high as the record figures from late 2023 (340,178 in December), but that’s normal due to seasonality in China.

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3 million plug-ins sold in 2023

BYD is the world’s largest plug-in electric car manufacturer with more than 3 million sales in 2023 and over 6 million sales cumulatively. In recent months, the company has focused more on all-electric cars, which outpace plug-in hybrids.

BYD all-electric car sales amounted to 105,304, up 48% year-over-year. BEVs are currently the fastest part of the company’s business. Plug-in hybrid sales grew by 21% year-over-year in January, to 95,715.

BYD passenger plug-in car sales last month (YOY change):

• BEVs: 105,304 (up 48%)
• PHEVs: 95,715 (up 21%)
• Total: 201,019 (up 34%)

BYD also sold 474 commercial electric vehicles for a total of 201,493 plug-in vehicles last month. Some 36,174 BYD plug-ins were exported, another monthly record.

For reference, in 2023, BYD sold over 3.0 million passenger plug-in electric cars (in line with the target), which was 62% more than in 2022.

BYD Group passenger plug-in car sales in 2023 (YOY change):

• BEVs: 1,574,822 (up 73%)
• PHEVs: 1,438,084 (up 52%)
• Total: 3,012,906 (up 62%)

In 2023, BYD BYD has become the largest Chinese carmaker, the largest car brand in China, and the world’s largest PHEV manufacturer. In 2024, it might also become the largest all-electric car manufacturer, as it sold over 1.6 million units in the last 12 months.

The top nameplate in BYD’s lineup is the Song family with 59,514 units sold in January (mostly plug-in hybrids).

The compact electric BYD Seagull was the second most popular model, with 36,477 units, followed by 21,767 units of Qin family (BEV + PHEV), 18,905 all-electric Dolphins and 18,071 all-electric BYD Yuans, also known as Atto 3 outside of China.