BYD sold more than 318,000 pure electric and hybrid passenger vehicles last month, up 161% year-on-year, and also higher than January’s sales. The carmaker notched another record month for overseas sales, which hit 67,025 units.
The Shenzhen-based auto giant’s nearest challenger, Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd., posted an 84% increase year-on-year to almost 205,000 vehicles in February, but fell below its January total.Among the EV upstarts, Xpeng Inc., Li Auto Inc. and Nio Inc. largely mirrored January’s sales performance in February.
Meanwhile, smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp., which burst onto the car scene with strong sales, says it delivered more 20,000 SU7s last month for the fifth consecutive month. The company also said Friday that it received more than 10,000 pre-orders for its high-end SU7 Ultra EV in two hours. The most expensive model in its SU7 Series, it costs 529,900 yuan ($72,800).
Separately, BYD and Chinese drone maker DJI Technology Co. on Sunday formally unveiled a vehicle-mounted drone in a further attempt to boost the attractiveness of its battery-powered cars. Last month, BYD added advanced driver-assistance features across most of its lineup for no extra cost.
Geely will unveil its own driver-assistance features later Monday.
BYD is the best performing stock in the Bloomberg World Auto Manufacturers Index this year, gaining around 40%. Tesla Inc. is the worst, down 27%.
