The Chinese manufacturer BYD has overtaken its American competitor Tesla by delivering more electric vehicles in the fourth quarter of 2023 worldwide, a pole position that it should maintain thanks to the strong support of the Chinese authorities which is boosting the local market.
The American manufacturer announced on Tuesday that it had delivered 484,507 electric vehicles in the last quarter, which places it, for the first time, in second position behind BYD.
BYD (Build Your Dreams) is one of the most prominent electric vehicle brands in China. Founded in 1995 in Shenzhen, a southern metropolis home to the headquarters of many technology groups such as Huawei and Tencent, the group stopped producing cars with combustion engines in 2022 to focus on hybrid and electric models. The brand now supplies batteries to the world’s main manufacturers, including Tesla, BMW, Mercedes and Audi.
It delivered 526,409 electric vehicles between October and December 2023, according to calculations carried out by AFP with data published in press releases from the Chinese group.
On the other hand, over the whole year, the American group retained its first place with 1.81 million vehicles delivered worldwide (38% over one year), when BYD returned 1.57 million to their owners of vehicles (73%). Asked by AFP on this subject, Tesla did not wish to react.
“BYD has a structural advantage in that much of its expansion benefits from very strong Chinese government support for electric vehicles,” explains Neil Saunders, director of Globaldata. This helps boost domestic demand which, in turn, strengthens BYD’s position in the export market. »
At the end of 2022, the Chinese government estimated subsidies and tax breaks for the purchase of electric vehicles alone at more than 200 billion yuan (around 26 billion euros). This support has given Chinese companies a distinct advantage over their foreign competitors. The European Union, which is worried about the strong growth of Chinese brands on its market for its manufacturers, opened an investigation in September into suspicions of unfair competition.
According to Neil Saunders, Tesla “remains a major player in the electric vehicle market”. But the group “will face a lot more competition from China this year”.
During the presentation of third quarter results on October 18, Tesla indicated that it wanted to increase its production “as quickly as possible”.