BYD gains on Tesla for EV sales crown with another record month

BYD achieved another record month selling battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, putting the automaker closer to surpassing Tesla for the first time on quarterly pure-EV sales.

The Chinese automaker sold 301,095 full-electric and plug-in hybrid passenger vehicles in October, a 38 percent increase from a year ago, according to a company filing Wednesday.

Sales rose 4.9 percent compared to September, amid a widespread slowdown in sales growth in China, the world’s biggest EV market.

BYD sells roughly one-in-three new-energy vehicles in China.

The company recently exceeded Volkswagen Group in the first quarter this year as the biggest-selling auto brand in the country for the first time.

On the closely watched metric of full-electric car sales, BYD delivered 165,505 units during the month.

An average of 158,642 for three consecutive months would put BYD in contention to match or exceed the amount Tesla needs to sell during the quarter to reach its 1.8 million annual sales goal.

BYD’s own target is to sell 3 million plug-in hybrids and EVs this year. October’s figure brings the company to 2.37 million year-to-date, on track to reach the 2023 goal.

The EV maker appears willing to compete on price after announcing cuts for some models, including its best-sellers, for the month of November.

The company delivered record net-income and revenue as third-quarter profit topped 10.4 billion yuan ($1.4 billion), well ahead of analyst estimates.

Revenue rose to 162 billion yuan.

BYD was rewarded with its best quarterly gross margin in three years — though analysts were skeptical it could maintain such a robust performance.