Al Root
BYD and its rival Chinese makers of electric vehicles reported another strong month of sales growth, while Tesla appears to be struggling to regain momentum in China.
Thursday, BYD announced it delivered 372,615 passenger vehicles in April, up 19% year over year. Plug-in hybrid sales, at 176,875, were flat year over year. All-electric car sales landed at 195,740 vehicles, jumping 46% year over year.
NIO, XPeng, and Li Auto, which specialize in EVs, delivered 92,884 vehicles combined in April, up 83% year over year.
Tesla is having a harder time growing.
It sold about 135,000 cars to Chinese buyers in the first quarter, up 2% year over year. Tesla doesn't report regional or monthly sales, but weekly data tracked by Citi analyst Jeff Chung show Tesla sold 25,900 vehicles in the first four weeks of April, down about 8% from a year earlier.
Tesla's market share in China has been battered by new competition. President Donald Trump's trade war might also be having an effect.
"You're seeing some consumers in China now choosing BYD over Teslas," Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Andres Sheppard told Barron's. "There's now the sentiment in China that they're essentially encouraging the consumer to purchase non-American products."
BNP Paribas Exane analyst Stuart Pearson noticed the same thing. "With US-China tensions elevated, the risk of a boycott on U.S. brands in China is rising materially," he wrote in a recent report.
That isn't good news for Tesla investors. China is the largest global market for new cars and new EVs. It accounted for more than 20% of Tesla's 2024 revenue.
BYD's U.S.-listed American depository receipts were up 0.5% in early trading, while the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 1.1% and 0.6%, respectively. Coming into Thursday trading, BYD ADRs were up about 39% year to date.
Tesla stock was up 1.1% in early trading. Coming into Thursday, shares were down 30% year to date.
Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com
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May 01, 2025 10:15 ET (14:15 GMT)
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