BYD takes over as China’s largest auto group with low-cost EVs dominating the market
Although BYD was already the best-selling brand in China, it reached an even more significant milestone last month. After overtaking SAIC, BYD is now China’s largest auto group.
BYD tops SAIC to become China’s largest auto group
After sales surged by 62%, with over 3 million vehicles sold last year, BYD officially became China’s best-selling brand.
Last month, BYD hit an even more significant milestone. BYD is now China’s largest auto group after topping SAIC in September sales. The milestone is significant, given that SAIC has joint ventures with leading global automakers, including Volkswagen GM.
BYD Group sold a record 419,426 vehicles last month, a 45% increase from September 2023. The numbers include BYD’s Denza, Fang Cheng Bao, and Yangwang subbrands.
September was BYD’s fourth consecutive record-breaking sales month. Despite an influx of new competition and an intensifying price war in China, BYD is still taking market share.
BYD’s cheapest electric car, the Seagull, was the best-selling EV in China in August, with 40,949 models sold. In September, BYD sold another 43,425 Seagull models.
The BYD Seagull starts at under $10,000 (69,800 yuan) in China and is already stealing market share overseas.
Meanwhile, SAIC is struggling to keep pace. Its joint venture with GM, SAIC-GM-Wuling, is a big reason as sales collapsed 35% in September, with 313,260 units sold.
Through September, SAIC has sold 2,649,333 vehicles (-21.5% YOY) in China, falling behind BYD, which has 2,747,875 vehicle sales (+32% YOY). BYD’s production numbers through September are also now outpacing SAIC’s.
Electrek’s Take
BYD continues to expand in China despite its increasingly competitive market. With low-cost EVs like the Seagull, Dolphin, and Yuan Plus, BYD is leading the market.
Although BYD is best known for its affordable vehicles, the automaker is rapidly expanding its lineup with new pickup trucks, luxury SUVs, and electric supercars.
BYD is also looking overseas to drive future growth. The company is already a leading EV brand in key auto regions like Southeast Asia and Latin America. With new plants planned in Hungary, Pakistan, Mexico, and Turkey, BYD is laying the groundwork to continue its dominant expansion.
After selling more vehicles than Honda and Nissan for the first time in Q2, BYD became the seventh-largest automaker globally. Will it continue to climb the global auto ranks? With new tech and batteries driving down costs, BYD is poised for a run.
Source: CarNewsChina
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Beatbot AquaSense 2 Ultra
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Beatbot AquaSense 2
The Beatbot AquaSense 2 delivers powerful, reliable cleaning performance, combining advanced technology with user-friendly convenience. Equipped with a robust 200W brushless main pump motor, this 3-in-1 robotic cleaner effortlessly tackles floors, walls, and waterlines, providing full coverage with optimized path navigation and impressive 5500 GPH suction power.
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Environment
Toyota the EV battery supplier? Honda will use them to power up its 400,000 hybrids in the US
Toyota is now a battery supplier? That’s the plan. Honda will use Toyota’s batteries to power up its around 400,000 hybrids sold in the US.
Toyota will supply batteries for Honda hybrids in the US
Toyota’s $14 billion battery plant in North Carolina is ready for business. The facility will begin shipping out batteries next month, and it looks like Toyota already has its first customer.
According to a new Nikkei report, starting in fiscal 2025, Toyota will supply batteries for the roughly 400,000 Honda hybrids sold in the US.
Honda currently uses batteries from China and Japan for vehicles sold in the US, but the company is (like most) preparing for changes under Trump.
Honda’s electrified vehicles, including EVs and hybrids, accounted for over a quarter of US sales last year. The company sold over 308,500 hybrids and 40,400 electric vehicles in the US in 2024. The batteries will likely be used in the CR-V and other Honda hybrid vehicles.
Earlier this month, an extra 10% tariff on imports from China took effect. And that’s on top of the 10% imposed in February.
With more expected, including a 25% increase in vehicles imported from Japan, automakers are tightening up their supply chains.
A 25% tariff on Japanese vehicles, up from 2.5% currently, is estimated to cost the six major Japanese automakers about $20 billion in the US.
Tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada could cost Honda roughly $4.7 billion alone. Teaming up with Toyota to use its batteries for its hybrids is part of Japan’s broader global plans to ween off dependence on China and others for batteries and other emerging tech.
The new US plant, Toyota Battery Manufacturing North Carolina (TBMC), is over seven million square feet, or about the size of 121 football fields.
As Toyota’s first in-house battery factory outside of Japan, the plant could be a game changer as Trump’s tariffs take effect. Securing Honda as a buyer will already help Toyota cut costs as it ramps up output.
Toyota plans to ramp up electrified vehicle (EV, PHEV, and hybrid) sales in North America from around 40% last year to 80% by 2030.
Electrek’s Take
Trump’s tariffs are already causing havoc, with nearly every automaker warning that they put the US further behind. Overseas automakers are not the only ones feeling the heat, either.
The “Big Three,” GM, Ford, and Jeep maker Stellantis all build vehicles in Canada and Mexico. GM cut output at its plant in Mexico in January, where the electric Chevy Equinox, Blazer, and Honda Prologue are made. Stellantis halted operations at its Brampton Assembly Plant in Canada last month, where it was expected to launch the Jeep Compass EV production. What’s next?
For Toyota, it looks like its $14 billion bet to build batteries in the US is already paying off. Now, we just need it to introduce more EVs.
After unveiling three new electric SUVs in Europe last week, including the updated bZ4X, Toyota hinted more is on the way for the US. Check back soon for updates.
What do you think? Do you want to see more Toyota EVs in the US, like the new C-HR+? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
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