Mention the growing global popularity of electric vehicles, and most people think of cars from Tesla Inc., the world’s leading EV maker. But Elon Musk has some unlikely competition approaching in his rearview mirror. The bestseller in emerging clean-car markets Brazil, Israel and Thailand, for instance, isn’t a Tesla. Those bragging rights belong to BYD Co., the Chinese EV and plug-in hybrid maker whose wheels are increasingly plying streets from Sydney to Delhi and even Montevideo, Uruguay.
The Shenzhen-based company has been on a tear in China, dethroning Volkswagen AG as the nation’s biggest-selling car brand during this year’s first quarter—a remarkable disruption of Volkswagen’s dominance there since at least 2008, when data from the China Automotive Technology and Research Center became available. One reason for the turnabout: In that quarter, BYD accounted for 39% of the sales of new-energy vehicles (electrics or hybrids)—or 12% of all passenger-car sales—in China, the world’s largest auto market, based on data from the China Passenger Car Association.
BYD continues to expand internationally at a blistering pace. Although the US remains off-limits for political reasons, the Chinese company recently entered Mexico, Spain and the UK. This month it plans to try its luck in Italy, kicking off with a launch party in Turin, the birthplace of Fiat. After first exporting new-energy vehicles to Norway in 2021, the company is now selling such cars from Singapore to Sweden—a real feat for a Chinese consumer brand.
