In the last month of the year, BYD once again set a new monthly sales record of plug-in electric cars (10th consecutive and 11th in 2022). The Chinese manufacturer continued to expand its sales volume, despite many challenges related to a quickly growing number of COVID infections in China and some lost production.
According to the company's report, last month, BYD passenger plug-in car sales amounted to 234,598 (the fourth result above 200,000), which is 153 percent more than a year ago.
The overwhelming majority of BYD sales are in China, while exports stand for a few percent of the total result.
Both all-electric and plug-in hybrid car sales have been above 100,000 units per month since October.
BEV sales increased year-over-year by almost 132 percent to 111,939 (although November was better), while PHEVs noted a growth of 176 percent year-over-year to 122,659 (a new high).
According to the company's representative Lian Yubo (via CnEVPost), if not for the 20,000-30,000-unit of lost production, December potentially would be at 250,000.
BYD plug-in car sales results:
- BEVs: 111,939 (up 132% year-over-year)
- PHEVs: 122,659 (up 176% year-over-year)
- Total: 234,598 (up 153% year-over-year)
Out of the total number, some 11,320 BYD plug-ins were exported. Besides passenger cars, BYD sold 599 commercial electric vehicles for a total of 235,197 plug-in vehicles last month.
BYD plug-in electric car sales – December 2022
In 2022, BYD sold more than 1.85 million plug-in electric cars, more than tripling its 2021 result of 593,745. This makes the company the world's largest manufacturer of rechargeable cars, although, in the case of all-electric cars, Tesla still has a significant edge (over 1.3 million deliveries).
BYD plug-in sales year-to-date:
- BEVs: 911,141 (up 184% year-over-year)
- PHEVs: 946,238 (up 247% year-over-year)
- Total: 1,857,379 (up 213% year-over-year)
Including commercial vehicles, BYD sold a total of 1,863,494 rechargeable vehicles last year.
The cumulative number of BYD plug-in electric cars is now more than 3.3 million units.
Top models
In terms of models, the BYD Song family (BEV + PHEV) is the absolute hit with 70,079 units in December (another record) and 478,120 in 2022. This makes the Song the top Chinese SUV.
Here are some other notable results: the BYD Han family (BEV + PHEV) - 30,043 units (274,015 YTD), all-electric BYD Yuan - 29,468 units (229,020 YTD), all-electric BYD Dolphin - 26,074, BYD Qin family (BEV + PHEV) - 26,206, BYD Tang family (BEV + PHEV) - 20,165, all-electric BYD Seal - 15,378 and plug-in hybrid BYD Destroyer 05 - 6,107.
There is one new model on the list - the BYD Frigate 07 plug-in hybrid - with 1,805 units in the first month on the market.
2023
It's difficult to forecast anything in today's world, but January-February might bring some serious slowdowns for BYD in China - partially it's normal due to local holidays, while partially it might be related to COVID or other factors.
There were media reports (Automotive News) that BYD will increase prices a bit in January 2023 - between 2,000 to 6,000 yuan ($290-$868), depending on the model, because of the end of government subsidies. It might slightly affect the demand side of the market.
Overall, BYD appears to be on the rise with many projects - new models, or even brands, as well as geographical expansion (in Europe and multiple other countries around the world) - that we are cautiously optimistic about for future growth.
