Chinese automaker BYD announced on Monday it sold 373,626 vehicles in August, of which 371,501 were passenger vehicles — up by 8.9% from a month before.
Production declined for a second straight month, the first such streak since mid-2020. The company had set a 5.5 million-unit target for 2025.
However, and despite an expected sales push in the final quarter of the year, the group is at risk of failing its ambitious target as it needs to sell nearly 2.7 million units in four months.
The company’s figures recovered from the sequential drop registered in July, when the Shenzhen-based company had registered 341,030 passenger vehicles — 40,000 units below June’s results).
The figures represent an increase of just 0.17% year over year.
From January to August, the company recorded sales of over 2,825,802 units, up 21.9% compared to the first eight months of 2024.
Battery electric vehicle registraions grew both sequentially (12.2%) and year over year (34.4%), representing more than half of the brand’s sales in August, at 199,585 units.
On the contrary, plug-in hybrids dropped for the fifth consecutive month when compared to a year ago.
BYD sold 171,816 PHEVs in August, down by 22.7% year over year, despite a 5.4% sequential increase.
BEV sales were above PHEV’s for the first time in April. In the second quarter, fully electric vehicles represented 53.8% of the total vehicles registered in that period.
They accounted for 52.2% in July and represented a 53.7% share in August.
Overseas registrations reached 80,464 vehicles — a surge of 155.8% from the same period a year ago, despite the slight drop of about 300 units from July.
The company set its highest sales figures outside of China in June, the ninth consecutive month setting record figures, with over 90,000 units. However, the numbers tanked in July to 80,000 vehicles.
Data compiled by ThinkerCar showed that BYD‘s Dynasty and Ocean series led August sales, with more than 150,000 and 189,000 vehicles sold, respectively.
Within these, the Qin family — covering both PHEV and BEV models, such as the Qin Plus, Qin L DM-i, and Qin L EV — represented about 62,000 units.
The Seal sedans and the Sealion SUVs each contributed over 53,000 units.
Meanwhile, the Seagull family — BYD‘s more affordable compact cars — reached 34,204 units, down from 44,989 in July.
Last week, the company reported its second quarter earnings results, posting a profit loss for the first time in over three years.
Net profit totalled 6.4 billion yuan (nearly $900 million), down 29.9% from a year earlier, after doubling in the first quarter.
On the other hand, revenue rose by 14% to 200.9 billion yuan (about $28.2 million).
