BYD becomes top EV seller in the world, big blow to Tesla, China’s BYD becomes top EV seller

BYD, one of China’s largest automobile companies, has sold the most electric vehicles (EV) at the global level, beating Tesla. In the second quarter of the current financial year, BYD sold around 3,54,000 EVs, registering an annual growth of 266 percent. Tesla’s sales during this period stood at around 2,54,000 units.

According to Counterpoint’s Global EV Sales Tracker, a total of these vehicles sales In the second quarter, it grew by 61 percent on a year-on-year basis to 2.18 million units. China is on top in this market with 12.4 lakh units. This sales in China has increased by about 92 percent on an annual basis. Europe and America were second and third. This is the first time that an automobile company has overtaken Tesla in EV sales. The major reasons for the decline in Tesla sales were the semiconductor shortage and the pandemic. However, the second half of this year is likely to be better for the company.

China’s automobile company Wuling ranked third in global EV sales. Wuling’s Hongguang Mini was the top-selling model in the Chinese market. Germany’s luxury car maker BMW secured the fourth and Volkswagen fifth position in terms of sales. German automobile company Mercedes Benz plans to grab the top position in India’s EV market. Mercedes will benefit from Tesla not having a presence in the country. This year the company will launch three electric cars.

Martin Schwenk, Mercedes’ business head in India, has told that the company will start a fast charging network across the country along with assembling a luxury EV. It may also consider manufacturing batteries in the country. Martin said, “We are starting aggressively in the EV market. About 25 percent of our sales in the country will come from EVs in the next five years. Our ambition is to be at the forefront of the electric segment.” Tesla has postponed the plan to start business in India due to high import duty. Mercedes can get the benefit of this. Mercedes will debut in the country’s luxury EV market with an imported electric model of its AMG EQS 53 4MATIC performance car. Its price will be around Rs 2.45 crore. This car will have a range of up to 580 kilometers in a single charge. This will be followed by the launch of the locally assembled electric version of the S-Class sedan EQS. Later this year, the company will launch another imported car.