Chinese electric carmaker BYD sales beat Tesla

The Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker BYD has disclosed it yearly revenue for 2024 that has jumped ahead of rival Tesla.

The company headquartered in Shenzhen says it experienced a revenue increase of 29% to come in at 777 billion yuan ($107bn; £83bn), boosted by sales of its hybrid vehicles. This reached over  the $97.7bn according to reports from Elon Musk’s Tesla.

BYD has also just introduced a more affordable  car to rival Tesla’s Model 3, which has consistently been the top selling EV in China. This follows how Tesla faces a backlash across the globe Musk’s association with US President Donald Trump, while Chinese vehicle producers  have been imposed with trade duties in Western countries.

BYD sold across various regions the same number of EVs as Tesla last year – 1.76 million compared to 1.79 million, respectively. But when sales of the Chinese company’s hybrid cars are taken into consideration it is much bigger, selling a record 4.3 million vehicles across the globe in 2024. BYD revealed a new model to take on Tesla on Sunday.

The company’s Qin L model has a starting price in China of 119,800 yuan, whereas a standard model of Tesla’s Model 3 is priced at 235,500 yuan. It comes as Chinese consumers are reducing expenditures due to under the pressure of economic challenges, including a property issues, slowing growth, and high public sector debt.

BYD’s founder Wang Chuanfu announced new battery charging technology last week, which he noted that it could charge an EV in five minutes.

That stands at about 15 minutes to charge a Tesla using its supercharger system. In February, BYD made a declaration that its“commonly referred to as God’s Eye” technology would be available free in all its models