Miguel Afonso Caetano<p>"After surprising analysts with its global rise in sales at the end of 2023, BYD has now raced ahead of Tesla—until recently the undisputed front-runner in EVs. As stock value and sales at Musk’s firm dropped last year, BYD has moved from success to success. In 2024, it sold a record of 4.3 million cars, with a 41 percent increase in sales. It now stands comfortably ahead of Tesla in the general category of new energy vehicles (NEVs), which comprises both Battery-Electric Vehicles (BEVs) and Plugin Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs). According to the latest reports, it is now neck and neck with Tesla on BEV sales; 1,790,000 for Tesla and, just behind, 1,764,000 for BYD—a 12 percent increase from the previous year. With its current rates of year-on-year growth exceeding 50 percent, and with abundant untapped potential still remaining in the EV industry, it is reasonable to expect BYD overtaking Toyota as the world-leading car firm within the next decade. </p><p>BYD is already behaving like a firm which seeks world dominance in its sector. Until recently, the Chinese automotive and EV sector was largely a domestic phenomenon, with the bulk of vehicles sold at home. Now, Chinese EV firms are expanding their production around the world, at an unprecedented scale and speed. Chinese electric vehicles factories —some of which are able to produce more than 100,000 vehicles a year—have sprung up in Indonesia, Thailand, Pakistan, Turkey, Hungary, Brazil, and Mexico to satisfy increasing demand for Chinese EVs which, besides their high quality, are also around 20 percent cheaper than their Western counterparts. </p><p>A key factor in BYD’s expansion is an effort to mitigate against the risk of tariffs and other trade barriers in an increasingly protectionist climate."</p><p><a href="https://www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/global-byd/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">phenomenalworld.org/analysis/g</span><span class="invisible">lobal-byd/</span></a></p><p><a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/China" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>China</span></a> <a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/EVs" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>EVs</span></a> <a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/GreenTech" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>GreenTech</span></a> <a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/BYD" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BYD</span></a></p>