China’s BYD is rivaling Tesla in size. Can it also match its global reach?

BEIJING (AP) — A less flashy Chinese electric vehicle maker is fast closing the gap with Tesla, the longtime, market-leading pioneer.

BYD Co., based in the southern China tech hub of Shenzhen, dethroned Texas-based Tesla Inc. as the top seller of electric cars in the last three months of 2023, according to sales figures released by the companies this week.

“This was an expected milestone event, given China’s share of the global EV market and BYD’s position in the domestic market,” said Jing Yang, the director of China corporate research at Fitch Ratings.

Tesla retained the crown for all of 2023, but BYD’s sales have skyrocketed on the back of a government-driven EV boom in China. The rise of BYD and other Chinese electric vehicle makers is a challenge not only for Tesla but also the world’s major automakers as Chinese competitors push into Europe, Southeast Asia and other overseas markets with a relatively affordable option for drivers who want to go green.

HOW DID BYD OUTSELL TESLA?

Aggressive price cutting helped Tesla beat analysts’ estimates for sales in the October to December quarter, but BYD did even better. The Chinese maker sold 526,409 electric cars in the three-month period, topping Tesla’s 484,507 units.

Its results were boosted by a surge in sales of small, low-cost EVs such as its Seagull and Dolphin models, said Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the China Passenger Car Association. Whether that growth in small vehicles can be sustained remains to be seen, he said.

For the entire year, BYD’s EV sales rose 73% in 2023 to nearly 1.6 million vehicles, the company said in a filing Monday with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The total still fell short of Tesla, which announced the next day that its annual sales were