BYD, China's largest plug-in electric car manufacturer, is on a fast track right now with sales exceeding 100,000 units a month for the past three months.
According to Securities Times (via CnEVPost), BYD chairman and president Wang Chuanfu noted during the recent annual shareholders meeting that the electrification of the automotive industry is progressing quicker than previously anticipated.
"How big we can grow depends on how much space the market can give. We feel that the process of electrification is accelerating much faster than we thought,"
Despite the high growth of production, it's not easy to match demand, which appears to grow even faster.
The article notes that according to the National Business Daily, BYD has an order backlog of up to 600,000 vehicles (unofficial number), which would be equivalent to 5-6 months of waiting.
Wang Chuanfu said also that the company is currently under pressure to expand outside of China.
BYD Seal production from June
A separate report from the Changzhou city government in East China's Jiangsu province (also via CnEVPost) says that the recently unveiled BYD Seal will enter production this month.
The expected monthly production volume is roughly 15,000 units (180,000 annually), which would not surprise us, especially since some predicted even higher levels.
The BYD Seal received some 22,637 pre-orders within just 7 hours after the official launch of the pre-sale in China on May 20. The car starts at 212,800 CNY ($31,795), after deducting subsidies, and offers a CLTC range of 550 km (342 miles). The Long Range versions can go up to 650-700 km (404-435 miles).
Overall, BYD appears to be really well prepared for expansion, as it already has scaled up its in-house development and produces the Blade Battery (LFP chemistry). BYD also avoided a lot of semiconductor shortages due to in-house production and recent lockdowns.
The lineup consistently expands and heads toward 20 models (counting BEV/PHEV separately). Several of them, like the Song PHEV, Qin PHEV, Han BEV, Dolphin BEV, and the new Yuan BEV exceeds a sales level of 10,000 units per month.
