The best-selling electric car brand in the world is not Tesla. CNN reports that China’s BYD “overtook Tesla to become the world’s biggest electric car company in the final quarter of 2023.”
BYD sold 525,409 electric vehicles (EVs) during the fourth quarter, CNN reports, compared to Tesla’s 484,507.
You won’t see a BYD (short for “build your dreams”) vehicle on American roads. InsideEVs reports “the overwhelming majority of BYD sales still happened in China, while exports account for about 10% of its total results.”
Related: Chinese Electric Vehicles are Coming, And They May Be Cheap
BYD also sells hybrids. Looking at 2023 as a whole, the company outpaced Tesla in total sales, but Tesla still narrowly won among pure EVs. “BYD sold 1.57 million electric vehicles last year,” CNN reports, short of Tesla’s 1.8 million.
There are currently no cars built by Chinese automakers available for sale in the U.S., though there are cars built in China by Chinese companies, such as the Polestar 2. Polestar, like its Swedish sibling Volvo, are both operated by China’s Geely. And several Chinese automakers appear poised to use Mexican factories as a jumping-off point for U.S. car sales. All this points to China’s growing importance to the worldwide automotive market.
Even storied American automakers now make some decisions with an eye toward the Chinese market. Buick, once known for entry-level luxury cars, has fallen to become General Motors’ budget brand in the U.S., with nearly half its dealerships closing last year. But GM likely holds onto the brand in part because its Chinese sales dwarf its presence in the American market.
