BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s BYD (BYDDY) posted a 21 percent rise in electric vehicle sales in the second quarter, narrowing the gap with Tesla (TSLA) after it ceded the title of the world’s largest electric vehicle supplier to its U.S. rival in the first quarter.
BYD sold 426,039 EVs in the April-June quarter, according to Reuters calculations based on monthly sales reports. That was about 12,000 units fewer than Tesla’s second-quarter vehicle deliveries had estimated.
Tesla is expected to report a 6% decline in vehicle deliveries in the April-June quarter on Tuesday, the first time the U.S. company has reported two consecutive quarters of declines. The company is battling fierce competition in China and sluggish demand due to a lack of affordable new models.
The company could cede its EV championship to BYD again if actual results disappoint. Barclays, for example, is predicting an 11% drop in second-quarter deliveries, Tesla’s biggest drop ever.
Tesla has taken a hitch after years of rapid growth that helped it become the world’s most valuable automaker. The company warned in January that delivery growth would be “significantly lower” in 2024 as a boost from months of price cuts fades.
The electric carmaker has cut production of its best-selling electric car, the Model Y, at its Shanghai plant by double digits since March to meet weakening demand for its older models in China, its second-largest market after the United States, Reuters reported in May.
In comparison, its biggest Chinese rival BYD maintained steady growth in EV sales, while EV newcomers like Nio reported stellar growth in the latest quarter. NIO’s vehicle deliveries in the second quarter more than doubled to 57,300 units.
According to Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA), price cuts and an increasing shift in consumer demand from gasoline vehicles to electric and hybrid vehicles are the main reasons for the strong sales figures of Chinese electric carmakers in recent months.
According to data from the CPCA, sales of new energy vehicles, including electric cars and plug-in hybrids, in China accounted for 46.7% of total auto sales in May, breaking a monthly record.
(Reporting by Qiaoyi Li, Zhang Yan and Kevin Krolicki; Editing by Miyoung Kim and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
