Rama Krishna Sangem
Danger bells ringing for Elon Musk’s Tesla. China’s BYD Co. enjoyed a year-end surge to push total sales to 4.25 million passenger cars last year, narrowing its gap with Tesla Inc. as the two vie for the crown of top-selling electric-vehicle maker of 2024.
The Shenzhen-based carmaker, which stopped making vehicles entirely powered by fossil fuels in 2022, hit a new monthly sales record in December, spurred on by subsidies and offering extra incentives to buyers.
BYD sold 509,440 plug-in hybrid and pure-electric passenger vehicles in December, the company said Wednesday. The figure includes 207,734 EVs, taking the annual tally of battery-powered car sales to 1.76 million. Overall annual sales increased 41 per cent year-on-year.
