Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and the world’s richest man, is in a predicament. BYD, the Chinese battery and electric vehicle maker with expansion into Asia and Europe, has surpassed Tesla as the world’s largest maker of pure electric vehicles. More than a decade ago, when asked about potential competition with BYD, Musk laughed. How have times changed?
The Shenzhen-based automaker has become the world’s largest producer of EVs, including plug-in hybrids.
However, the company’s global shipments of “pure” battery-powered EVs surpassed Tesla’s in the fourth quarter, reaching 526,409 units (compared to Tesla’s 484,507 units). Mr. Musk’s other famous billionaire rival, Warren Buffett, laughed all the way to the bank in 2008 when his flagship Berkshire Hathaway invested in a then-little-known Chinese car company. was.
Musk’s ridicule was part of Western conventional wisdom about Chinese cars. At the time, they were ridiculed as low-quality, overpriced imitations and were the laughing stock of the global auto industry.
Today, China has turned the tables. Currently, two out of five cars sold on the mainland are EVs, and EV sales in China, the world’s largest automobile market, account for approximately 60% of the global total.
The Chinese government aims for the country’s two top EV makers to generate 10% of their sales overseas by 2025.
Drivers are also reassured that the combination of state and private sectors has enabled the battery charging network to cover vast swathes of the country. As sales increased, automakers saw increased profits as an incentive to invest in new technology and features.
Famous “Chinese elements” that were once ridiculed as eccentricity, such as longer rear seat wheelbases and larger drink holders, have turned out to be appealing.
China’s BYD overtakes Tesla to become the largest manufacturer of pure electric cars
China’s BYD overtakes Tesla to become the largest manufacturer of pure electric cars
Self-parking software and self-driving features are being tested more realistically on busy roads in China than on America’s empty country roads and interstates. And thanks to China’s commitment to carbon neutrality by 2060, the government is offering hefty subsidies to help consumers wean themselves from traditional gasoline cars.
It also helped boost technology scale and value-added supply chain production. Buffett and BYD put Musk on the back burner.