- BYD built more electric vehicles than Tesla for the first time in 2024
- Cheaper Chinese vehicles are taking over emerging markets
- Electric vehicles will outsell gasoline vehicles in China this year
Tesla has been the undisputed king of electric vehicles for more than a decade, producing more cars and outselling its rivals by a considerable margin during that time.
But the threat from Chinese rivals has been looming on the horizon, and Build Your Dreams – or BYD, to most – is quickly catching up to Musk’s successes.
According to The Washington Post, BYD built more electric cars than Tesla last year, the first time it has reached such a milestone.
Although the margins are relatively small, with BYD producing 1.78 million electric vehicles, compared to Tesla’s 1.77 million, this shows that more affordable alternatives from China are quickly catching on in numerous emerging markets around the world. .
More affordable electric vehicles are expected to outsell gasoline and diesel cars in China for the first time this year, according to the Financial Times, with a growing appetite for low-priced electric vehicles.
BYD’s cars have long cost almost half the price of Tesla’s highest-performance models, and models like its diminutive Seagull undercut Tesla’s smallest Model 3 by almost $30,000 (or around £25,000/AU$ 50,000).
A better comparison would be the latest BYD Sealion, which takes the form of the brand’s big SUV offering and costs around $26,000 (around £22,000 / AU$42,000) in China – almost half the cost of a similar Model Y .
With the Biden administration introducing steep tariffs on Chinese vehicle imports, as well as seeking an outright ban on any vehicles that include Chinese connected technology, the likelihood of BYD becoming popular in the United States appears slim.
Instead, the Chinese manufacturer has tried to gain ground in the fruitful markets of Southeast Asia, the Middle East and South America.
Gernot Wagner, a climate economist at Columbia Business School, told the Washington Post that “there is no single attractive, affordable system.” [all-electric car] made in the U.S. that would have a chance against one made in China in a developing market,” raising concerns that North America could fall far behind its Chinese counterparts and lose its reputation as a global automaker in the coming years.
Analysis: the gap between East and West is narrowing
There was a time when vehicles coming from China were considered cheap, basic, poorly built alternatives to what the world’s “traditional automakers” have been producing for decades. But times are changing.
The quality of BYD’s latest products has been applauded by professionals and customers alike, who have praised the generous equipment levels offered at affordable prices, in-car technology that works and a battery range that dwarfs that of many more. expensive rivals.
On the other hand, Tesla has received criticism for the often questionable build quality of its cars, with the most recent Cybertruck among those that have suffered numerous recalls and problems that have sent customers to forums to vent.
What’s worse is that Tesla’s battery technology doesn’t seem to be advancing at the same pace as MG, BYD, and several other high-performance Chinese companies.
The most recent update to the Model Y ‘Juniper’, for example, added around 10 miles of extra range, while MG has said it will launch a vehicle with solid-state battery technology this year that will boast a range of more than 600 miles.
But perhaps most worrying is the fact that the North American auto industry does not appear to be responding to the threat from China, despite the government doing everything it can to level the playing field.
Instead, companies like Ford and GM have turned to hybrids or returned to producing gasoline-powered vehicles, rather than keeping pace with global innovation in electric vehicles, meaning those brands could soon have little to offer to a world that has left fossil fuels behind. fuels.
