BYD leads Chinese car brands past Ford and Chevy in global sales

China’s carmakers outsold their US counterparts for the first time in 2023, a testament to the shifting power dynamics in the global auto market.

Brands led by BYD sold 13.4 million new vehicles, beating the 11.9 million units delivered by American brands such as Ford and Chevrolet, researcher Jato Dynamics said on June 13. Japanese brands maintained their lead over the rest of the industry.

Chinese makers’ market share soared across the Middle East, Eurasia and Africa, with the likes of SAIC Motor and Geely also making inroads into more mature markets such as Europe and Australia.

“Negligence from legacy automakers, which has resulted in consistently high car prices, has inadvertently driven consumers towards more affordable Chinese alternatives,” Jato analyst Felipe Munoz said.

China’s carmakers are increasingly turning to exports after seizing control of their home market, where an electric-vehicle (EV) price war is weighing on earnings. Tesla chief executive officer Elon Musk warned in January that Chinese companies will “pretty much demolish” most other manufacturers if trade barriers are not erected.

The European Union’s move this week to

impose additional tariffs on EVs imported from China

may convince BYD and its peers to expand further in emerging markets, where they are already doing well and trade barriers are lower, Mr Munoz said.

The US did manage to snag one big win in 2023, with Tesla’s Model Y becoming the best-selling vehicle worldwide. Deliveries of the sport utility vehicle jumped 64 per cent to 1.22 million units, beating out Toyota Motor’s RAV4 SUV.

Japanese brands were the best overall performers, making seven of the 10 best-selling models and delivering around 23.6 million cars in total. European brands ranked second. BLOOMBERG