BYD Doubles Domestic Sales to Become Major Rival of Tesla

Chinese car manufacturer BYD is consolidating its position on the Hungarian new car market at an impressive pace. The first four months of this year showed outstanding sales results, and experts forecast a further increase over the course of the year, boosted by a rapid expansion of the dealer network and a strong model range in the new energy vehicle (NEV) segment.

BYD launched its plug-in electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles in Hungary in October 2023, and has been growing steadily ever since. In its first full year, 2024, it sold 1,548 passenger and light commercial vehicles, accounting for 1.37 percent of the market. The first four months of this year ended with sales of 757 vehicles.

In the electric passenger car segment, the Chinese brand has quickly chased the leader, Tesla.

Tesla, with 21.5 percent share of the Hungarian electric market, saw its lead shrink to less than four percentage points by the end of April this year, after BYD more than doubled its January-April 2024 performance with 558 electric cars sold in the first four months (17.9 percent share).

According to BYD PR Hungary, the company sees a chance of doubling – or even tripling – last year’s sales volume, depending on the arrival of new products and the pace of network expansion.

The brand has been steadily expanding its sales network: last year’s sales were practically the output of three dealerships in Budapest, and this year its models will be available in 10 dealerships in eight cities. The expansion of the national network will continue, they added.

BYD is building on the strong demand for affordable electric cars in the European market and will launch its eighth pure electric model in three years. Its recently unveiled small city car across Europe, which carries BYD’s cutting-edge battery technology, is also expected to be well received. The Dolpin Surf runs on an e-Platform 3.0 floorplate designed specifically for electric powertrains and uses the brand’s lithium-iron phosphate Blade battery with a more durable and safer design than conventional lithium-ion electric car batteries, while being completely cobalt-free.

Founded in 2003, BYD Auto is the automotive subsidiary of BYD, a multinational high-tech company, and the first manufacturer to stop producing fossil-fuel vehicles in the electric transition, leading the NEV sales in China for nine consecutive years. The company is investing billions of euros to set up a car plant in Szeged and recently announced a multi-million euro investment to relocate its European corporate and development headquarters to Budapest.

Via MTI, Featured image: Hungary Today