Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer BYD surpassed the $100bn revenue mark in 2024, beating rival Tesla’s earnings for the year, a new stock filing revealed.
Shenzhen-based BYD emerged as Tesla’s biggest competitor in recent years as the Elon Musk-owned company faced a continued drop in sales revenue.
BYD has been actively seeking growth globally, spreading to markets in Europe and Asia with the roll-out of new compact models at lower prices and super-fast charging capabilities.
A new statement filed on Monday revealed that BYD recorded 777.1 bn yuan ($107.2 bn) in revenue for 2024, eclipsing the $97.7 bn revenue announced by Tesla for the year.
The filing suggested that BYD grew by nearly 30 per cent compared to its sales revenue in the previous year. Meanwhile, the Chinese EV maker’s profits for 2024 also seemed to have grown by over a third compared to 2023, the filings showed.
In the fourth quarter of 2024 alone, BYD’s profits surged by 73 per cent, records revealed.
BYD’s growth is in line with a surge in demand for EVs in China with over 20 million battery-powered cars estimated to be on road.
It has overtaken giants like Volkswagen selling a record 4.25 million vehicles in 2024, Reuters reported.
The company’s shares skyrocketed to record highs this month after it unveiled a commercial battery for EVs capable of charging in almost the same time as it takes to fill up a fuel tank.
BYD announced last week that its new Super E-Platform battery pack offers 1,000kW charge speeds – about four times quicker than the 250kW charging rate offered by Tesla’s superchargers.
It has also promised to roll out its “God's Eye” smart driving system on most of its line up with no extra charge – a feature at odds with Tesla’s full self-driving mode, or FSD, for which the American EV maker charges over $8,000.
This means the Chinese automaker’s new set of batteries could provide a range of up to 400km (249miles) from charging for just about five minutes.
The company said its new lithium-iron-phosphate battery technology would “completely solve users’ range anxiety when travelling”, adding that it plans to introduce the latest battery system in its Han L and Tang L models as early as next month in China.
Meanwhile, Tesla has been facing a continuous slump with its share prices dropping for nine consecutive weeks, and its valuation dropping by over half since December.
Tesla sales have plummeted in Europe as well. Tesla sold fewer than 10,000 vehicles across Europe in January, which marks a fall of a massive 45 per cent compared to a year ago when they sold over 18,000, reports the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA).
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