What kind of idiot wouldn't want to buy a BYD car that's half the price of US, EU or Japanese competitors? Oh right, Trump has a deal with Musk to keep them out of the US. Oops.
China’s Top Carmaker Dominates Foreign Rivals With $14,000 Plug-In Hybrid
BYD exploits price edge to hit sales record, while GM, Volkswagen suffer as market shifts away from gasoline
By Yoko Kubota, WSJ
Oct. 14, 2024 8:34 am ET
BEIJING—From tariffs to technology restrictions, global challenges are mounting for Chinese carmakers. Yet BYD, China’s biggest automaker, has been unstoppable.
Last month, BYD posted its fourth straight month of record global sales with 419,430 vehicles sold. Earlier this year, it seized the position as No. 1 carmaker by sales in China ahead of the Volkswagen VOW3 -0.41%decrease; red down pointing triangle group, which reigned for decades.
BYD makes only fully electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, which together accounted for 53% of the Chinese market in September, according to figures released Saturday by the China Passenger Car Association.
Western and Japanese automakers specializing in gasoline-powered vehicles, now fighting for a minority of the market, are getting hammered. GM’s September sales with joint venture partner SAIC Motor, with which it produces Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac cars, declined by more than three-quarters from a year earlier to 22,050 vehicles. Honda dropped 43%.
Tesla’s sales in China rose 66% from a year earlier to 72,200 vehicles, data from CPCA showed.
Globally, GM, Ford and some other Western carmakers have been retreating from their electric ambitions, making it hard to compete in China. Meanwhile, Honda recently opened a new plant in China dedicated to producing electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids.
BYD, or Build Your Dreams, is taking advantage of Chinese consumers’ turn toward frugality. Its Qin L plug-in hybrid, released in May, is similar in size to the Toyota Camry but starts at the equivalent of $14,100, according to BYD’s website, versus a starting suggested retail price of about $24,250 for the Camry.
BYD says the Qin L can run up to roughly 1,300 miles with one charge and a full tank. It comes with the features popular in smartcars such as a front display and voice commands to control the air conditioner and music system.
The company has been working for years to build its own batteries, improve fuel efficiency and develop plug-in hybrid technology. That has given it a lead in the new-energy vehicle, or NEV, category that includes full EVs and plug-ins, said Yale Zhang, managing director of Shanghai-based market research firm AutoForesight.
“Together with a much-improved vehicle exterior and interior styling from five years ago, it finally seized the opportunity of NEVs starting to enter average families,” he said.
For much of this year, BYD’s plug-in hybrids have outperformed its full EVs. In September, about 60% of the cars it sold globally were plug-ins.
The company’s hopes for global expansion have been tempered by a backlash against Chinese cars. In the U.S., the Biden administration imposed a 100% tariff on Chinese EVs and the Commerce Department has proposed banning Chinese components inside connected vehicles. This month, European Union member states voted to impose tariffs of up to 45% on electric cars made in China.
BYD’s overseas sales are still growing year-over-year but at a slower pace, and more than nine in 10 of its vehicles are sold in China. BYD sells in markets including Europe and Central Asia.
BYD is one of the few profitable EV makers in China. Photo: chalinee thirasupa/Reuters
At home, the Chinese carmakers are riding high, helped by a government cash-for-clunkers program that has brought some consumers back into showrooms. Last year, sales of local brands in China surpassed foreign brands for the first time in decades on an annual basis.
In April, the BYD group’s sales volume in China surpassed that of the Volkswagen group, said Automobility, a Shanghai-based strategy firm. For the first nine months of the year, BYD’s market share stood at about 16%, while the Volkswagen group—including brands such as Volkswagen, Audi and Skoda but not imported vehicles such as Porsche—was at around 13%, data from Automobility showed. Volkswagen’s China head said in April that it is focused on profitability.
Lowering costs by making its batteries and chips in-house, BYD is one of the few profitable EV makers in China.
This year, BYD intensified a price war by slashing prices. Still, the company reported a 24% increase in net profit in the first half of the year from the same period a year earlier, the latest figure available.
Corrections & Amplifications
BYD makes only fully electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, which together accounted for 53% of the Chinese market in September. A photo caption in an earlier version of this article incorrectly said BYD’s vehicles accounted for 53% of the Chinese market in September. (Corrected on Oct. 15)
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