China's BYD, the world's largest seller of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid vehicles, announced on Monday that it sold approximately 3.02 million units in 2023, an increase of 61.9%.
The Shenzhen-based automaker announced it has sold about 1.6 million battery EVs and 1.4 million plug-in hybrid EVs.
BYD announced that it sold 340,178 battery EVs and hybrid EVs in December, of which 190,754 were fully electric vehicles.
BYD, short for Build Your Dreams, has been competing with Elon Musk's Tesla by lowering the company's hefty prices.
For example, Tesla's all-electric midsize SUV, the Model Y, costs about $65,400, while BYD's Atto 3 sells for $48,880 to $51,011, depending on battery size.
BYD also offers mass-produced models that are much cheaper than Tesla's cheapest Model 3 sedan in China.
Last quarter, the company sold 431,600 vehicles, just 3,500 fewer than Tesla's deliveries.
Founded in 1995 by Wang Chuanfu as a maker of rechargeable batteries, the Warren Buffett-backed automaker has diversified into consumer electronics, mobile phones and, in 2008, electric vehicles. did.
Berkshire Hathaway invested about $230 million in 2008 to acquire a nearly 10% stake in BYD, which has since soared about 35 times to about $8 billion, according to Bloomberg.
BYD has begun expanding into the United States, opening a manufacturing facility in Lancaster, California, where electric buses and motorcoaches are manufactured in a 556,000 square foot facility.
Last year, BYD announced plans to build a factory in Hungary.
