BYD Outsold Tesla

BYD Outsold Tesla by 60% in Electric Vehicle Production Last Quarter.
As it became known the day before, Tesla delivered 384,122 electric vehicles to its customers last quarter, which is 13% less than a year earlier. During this time, Chinese BYD's sales volumes grew by 42.5% to 606,993 electric vehicles, although Tesla products also showed positive dynamics (+0.8%) in China.

BYD electric vehicle sales in China

As Nikkei Asian Review notes, the significant increase in BYD electric vehicle sales in China could be due to a sharp drop in prices for them in May of this year, when about 22 models of this brand became more affordable by up to 34%. If the largest Chinese automaker, BYD, is facing problems due to numerous competitors, then Tesla's difficulties may partly stem from the political activities of its CEO Elon Musk, if we talk about the markets of Europe and the USA.

The rift between Musk, who was Donald Trump's main sponsor during his fall election campaign, and the current US president has cast doubt on the continuation of the conditions for Tesla's work in the American electric car market that existed before. Trump this week threatened to deprive Elon Musk's company of multi-billion dollar subsidies. He is also ready to abolish the system of "green credits" that allowed Tesla to receive more than half of all profits last year from other automakers that cannot boast such a wide range of electric cars and high sales volumes.

For Tesla, the past quarter has already become the second reporting period showing a decrease in the volume of electric car deliveries. The company's share price has fallen by almost 30% since the beginning of the year. The most interesting thing is that by the end of June, Tesla sold 71,599 electric cars produced at its Chinese plant, consistently increasing their number by 16.1% and raising it by 0.8% year-on-year. The last time Tesla sales in China grew on a monthly basis was in September last year.

In any case, in the first half of the year as a whole, Tesla electric vehicle deliveries from the Chinese plant decreased by 14.6% to 364,474 units, and it is hardly possible to talk about a reversal of the trend. Strictly speaking, the June statistics show the number of all electric vehicles produced by the company in China, including those sent for export, so these figures do not characterize the demand for them in the country's domestic market.