Tesla is no longer the largest manufacturer of electric cars. You may not even have heard of this brand

BYD Auto, although rather little known in Europe, has been one of the most important producers of electric and hybrid cars in the world for years. The company belongs to the battery-producing BYD Company and is based in the “Chinese silicon valley” in Shenzhen. Even the well-known American investor Warren Buffett has been investing in BYD since 2008.

“Chinese Tesla” has overtaken Elon Musk’s company. But there is one catch

Like , BYD has just boasted its car production results for 2023 and they are (again) great. Over the last 12 months, as many as 3.02 million electric cars have rolled off the Chinese company’s production lines. This (like the year before) is the best result in the world. For comparison, Tesla announced on Tuesday that in 2023 it managed to produce 1.84 million electric cars.

However, there is a small catch here. BYD’s data includes all cars equipped with electric engines, both hybrids and vehicles powered solely by electricity. BYD produced 1.4 million of the first ones, and the production of electric cars reached 1.6 million. Tesla, in turn, focuses exclusively on selling vehicles powered only by battery electricity. Counting full-fledged electric cars separately, the American company led by Elon Musk is still the market leader.

At least on an annual basis, because the last quarter in this category definitely belonged to BYD. From October to December, the Chinese produced 526,000. battery-powered cars (without hybrids), and Tesla boasted a result of 484,000. pieces – reminds “The Guardian”. This was the first quarter in history when Tesla failed to take first place in terms of the number of electric cars produced.

Chinese electric manufacturers want to conquer Europe

For BYD, the main sales market is, of course, China, where in the case of Tesla, the Chinese market is responsible for approximately 1/5 of global sales. However, local brands set themselves the goal of conquering European countries. On the Old Continent, BYD plans to sell a total of as many as 800,000 by 2030. cars per year, fighting with competitors (including Tesla), among others. lower price. For now, the company offers five models of its cars, and another three are expected to appear in the near future. There are also plans to open a factory in Hungary.

However, the ambitious plans of the Chinese may be thwarted by the European Commission. In September 2023, Brussels initiated an anti-subsidy investigation against Chinese car brands. According to regulators, they are subsidized by the Chinese government, which leads to artificially low prices and may ultimately contribute to flooding European markets with cheaper electric cars from Asia. As EC President Ursula von der Leyen said when announcing the initiation of the investigation, “Europe is open to competition, but not to a race of attrition.” The EC’s investigation may result in the imposition of additional duties on cars exported from China to Europe.