BYD Closer to Becoming #1 Automaker in World Than I Thought
Some reader comments pulled in sales numbers that made me realize we're a bit closer than I thought and it's worth starting a regular comparison of the numbers today. I'll split this piece into two parts - top selling auto brands (with one especially notable point in bold) and top selling auto groups.
BYD is in 9th, and at just about 30% of Toyota's total. But let's keep in mind that the two brands will be moving toward each other - BYD probably won't have to climb up to Toyota's 2023 level to take #1.
According to other sources such as technode, BYD marked 62% growth from a year ago to sell even more EVs in 2023 - 3.02 million.
Also clear is that if BYD continues to grow so strongly, it's got a few automakers within its sights that it should be able to quickly pass - Suzuki for sure, Kia (though, Kia has been doing alright itself), and Nissan (which has been struggling massively since Carlos Ghosn was jailed in Japan). Beyond that, Honda and Hyundai are just about a million units ahead, and then BYD would be in 4th.
Naturally, Toyota really is far, far ahead of BYD. There's a big mountain to climb, and Toyota would also have to roll down that mountain a good ways in order for BYD to get to the top of the podium anytime soon. Also, Volkswagen in second place there is still at twice the sales of BYD, so it's a similar story. The difference, arguably, is that Volkswagen is handling the EV transition better, but it's not exactly excelling there either, and it’s also rapidly losing the big Chinese auto market to Chinese automakers. (Perhaps its partnership with Xpeng will help the company stop the bleeding.)
Here's the really inspiring point for BYD fans, though: BYD sold 342,383 vehicles in Jul 2024. Toyota sold 857,982. Looking at that month alone (the most recent I found data for), BYD's sales have risen to 40% of Toyota's sales! So, from 2023 (full year) to Jul 2024, BYD's sales have gone from about 30% of Toyota’s total to about 40% of Toyota’s total. In that list above, #3 Ford’s total is about 45% of Toyota’s total. So, even if BYD isn’t close to #1 yet, it’s highly possible BYD is already closing in on a podium position.
Okay, that was auto brands, but what about auto groups? Toyota gets a boost here from adding Lexus and Daihatsu, and Volkswagen gets an even bigger boost by adding several auto brands. From this data source, BYD's numbers are the same, which surprises me since my understanding was that there were a few auto brands (like Denza) that were not included in the other numbers but should be included here. However, I've got to go with the official data that I've found.
So, BYD has a bigger hill to climb here, but it's essentially the same story. Tesla, you'll note, actually climbed one position despite sales being the same. That's because Audi was right above it in the brand ranking but Audi's total got included in the Volkswagen Group total in the #2 position here.
Returning to those Jul 2024 figures referenced above, Toyota Group as a whole had 924,918 sales in Jul 2024 worldwide, while BYD had the aforementioned 342,383. That means BYD's sales total was 37% of Toyota Group's sales total. It will be interesting to watch BYD's rise and see how these totals and percentages change over time.
Disclaimer: Community is offered by Moomoo Technologies Inc. and is for educational purposes only.
Read more
Comment
Sign in to post a comment
Moo Contributor
Follow me to get useful analysis, learn TA and make profitable trades.
Maximise profit 利润最大化
7948Followers
46Following
26KVisitors
Follow
bullrider_21 OP : BYD chalked up 62% growth last year from a year ago. It may be the top selling auto brand or group within the next 10 years.
BelleWeather : I absolutely agree that BYD will be the largest automaker in the world within the next few years (with Tesla in a different category, but also successful.)
BelleWeather : I absolutely agree that BYD will be the largest automaker in the world within the next few years (with Tesla in a different category, but also successful.)