BYD Tops Tesla On Global Revenues

Shenzhen-based BYD has topped Tesla in global revenues, reporting 777 billion yuan ($107bn, £83bn) in income for all of 2024 compared to $97.7bn for Tesla.

The figure reported by BYD was a 29 percent increase over the previous year and comes amidst a price war for EVs in China, the world’s largest car market.

BYD’s EV sales were slightly below Tesla’s for all of 2024, at 1.76 million compared to 1.79 million.

Record sales

But the company has taken a larger share of the worldwide EV market than Tesla in some recent quarters, including the fourth quarter of 2024, according to figures from Counterpoint.

BYD’s fourth-quarter sales of battery electric vehicles rose 13 percent year-on-year to take 16 percent of the worldwide market, while Tesla’s sales rose 2 percent for a 14 percent market share, Counterpoint said.

BYD also makes hybrid electric vehicles, and when those are included its sales are much higher, at a total of 4.3 million vehicles in 2024.

The company is locked out of many overseas markets due to tariffs, but it dominates the market in China, which makes up 60 percent of the world’s auto market, according to Counterpoint.

The shift comes as Tesla’s sales plummet in Europe and elsewhere and as it faces aggressive cost-cutting and technical advances by competitors in China.

BYD this month announced a new Qin L EV sedan with similar features to Tesla’s Model 3, priced at about half of Tesla’s car, which has long been the best-selling electric sedan on the Chinese mainland.

Rising competition

Tesla’s overall mainland sales fell to 30,688 units in February, down 51.5 percent from January and 49.2 percent year-on-year.

BYD also recently announced a battery charging technology it said could charge vehicles in about five minutes, compared to about 15 minutes using Tesla’s Supercharger system.

In February BYD said it would roll out its “God’s Eye” driver-assistance feature for free in nearly all its models, putting further pressure on Tesla.