BYD Plug-in Car Sales Doubled in April 2023

Two new models emerged in the stats - the all-electric BYD Seagull and the plug-in hybrid BYD Chaser 07.

BYD does not slow down and once again doubled its global plug-in electric car sales in April, gradually approaching its all-time monthly record levels.

According to the company's report, in March, BYD passenger plug-in car sales amounted to 209,467, which is nearly 99 percent more than a year ago.

The overwhelming majority of BYD sales are in China, while exports stand for several percent of the total result.

That's one of the best results so far (only October-December 2022 was better), and a clear sign that BYD is on a path for new all-time records (currently it's 234,598 units in December 2022).

However, things are not as smooth as before, and according to the Chinese media, BYD offered some price discounts on several of its models (Seal, Song Plus, Yuan Plus and Dolphin) over the past two months. That's an interesting outcome, considering that initially (in 2022/2023) the company was saying that it would not follow Tesla's price reductions. Well, we will wait and see.

As always, it's interesting to see that both all-electric (BEV) and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) sales expand at a very similar year-over-year rate. The PHEV segment remains slightly bigger and quicker growing though (no change here).

BYD plug-in car sales results:

BEVs: 104,364 (up 82% year-over-year)

PHEVs: 105,103 (up 119% year-over-year)

Total: 209,467 (up 99% year-over-year)

BYD also sold 828 commercial electric vehicles for a total of 210,295 plug-in vehicles last month. Out of the total number, some 14,827 BYD plug-ins were exported.

BYD plug-in electric car sales – April 2023

So far this year, BYD sold more than 757,000 passenger plug-in electric cars, which is 94 percent more than a year ago.

BYD plug-in sales year-to-date:

BEVs: 369,011 (up 84% year-over-year)

PHEVs: 388,373 (up 105% year-over-year)

Total: 757,384 (up 94% year-over-year)

For reference, in 2022, BYD sold more than 1.85 million plug-in electric cars. The cumulative number of BYD plug-in electric cars is now more than 3.9 million units.

BYD's 12-month sales already exceeded 2.2 million units. The company might soon exceed 250,000 sales per month. The company aims to sell more than 3 million units in 2023.

Top models

In terms of models, for the second month in a row, the top-selling one was the BYD Qin family (BEV + PHEV) - 42,202 units, thanks to a facelifted plug-in hybrid version that entered the market in February.

The all-electric BYD Yuan noted 39,160 units, while the BYD Song family (BEV + PHEV) was third with 35,836 units. A high number of sales were also noted by the all-electric BYD Dolphin (30,462).

An interesting thing is that BYD just launched two new plug-in models, the all-new, all-electric microcar named Seagull (1,500 units), and the all-new plug-in hybrid BYD Chaser 07 (5,380 units). Well, if the ultra-affordable ($11,400) BYD Seagull will take off, it might be one of the top-selling BEVs globally.