After a weak February, BYD returned to form in March and set a very strong plug-in electric car sales result—its second- best ever.

BYD’s passenger plug-in car sales amounted to 301,631 units last month—including almost 15,000 EVs from its sub-brands. That’s 46% more than a year ago, which suggests that BYD will continue the growth this year.

BYD will not beat Tesla in Q1 2024

BYD is the world’s largest plug-in electric car manufacturer, but it seems that it will not be able to beat Tesla in the all-electric car segment yet. So far it happened only once, in Q4 2023.

BYD’s all-electric car sales in March amounted to 139,902, up 36% year-over-year. At the same time, plug-in hybrid sales increased by 56% year-over-year, to 161,729.

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

• BEVs: 139,902 (up 36%)
• PHEVs: 161,729 (up 56%)
• Total: 301,631 (up 46%)

BYD also sold 828 commercial electric vehicles for a total of 302,459 plug-in vehicles last month. Out of the total number, some 38,434 BYD plug-ins were exported (a new monthly record).

So far this year, BYD sold over 624,000 passenger plug-in electric cars, 14% more than a year ago. In 2024, the company intends to achieve an average growth rate of over 20%.

BYD’s all-electric car sales in Q1 slightly exceeded 300,000, which indicates that the company will be significantly behind Tesla (expected at 400,000).

BYD passenger plug-in car sales year-to-date (YOY change):

• BEVs: 300,114 (up 13%)
• PHEVs: 324,284 (up 14%)
• Total: 624,398 (up 14%)

For reference, in 2023, BYD sold over 3.0 million passenger plug-in electric cars, which was 62% more than in 2022. In 2023, BYD became the largest Chinese carmaker and the largest car brand in China.

One of the most interesting things is that in Q1 exports more than doubled, reaching almost 100,000 or about 15% of the total volume.

The top nameplate in BYD’s lineup last month was—without any surprise—the Song family with 78,490 units sold (mostly plug-in hybrids). That’s a 94% increase year-over-year.

The second most popular family is the BYD Qin sedan with 40,569 units (BEV + PHEV), almost on par with last year’s volume.

The third most popular mode is the tiny BYD Seagull, an entry-level all-electric model, which noted 34,830 sales. It was enough to outpace the all-electric BYD Yuan family (32,806), but the Yuan is getting reinforcements in the form of affordable Yuan Up.