The company faces mounting challenges in maintaining competitiveness amid an intensifying price war in the world’s largest auto market.BYD’s third-quarter sales fell 2.1 per cent from a year earlier, according to Reuters’ calculations based on a company filing released on Wednesday, the first quarterly decline for the Chinese EV and hybrid car maker in more than five years.
The Chinese market leader sold 1.106 million cars in the three months to the end of September, the company data showed, marking the first fall since the second quarter of 2020 when businesses were disrupted by the outbreak of COVID.
BYD sold 5.88 per cent fewer cars in September than a year ago, the first monthly fall since February 2024, and the company cut its output by a further 8.47 per cent last month, extending a trend of lower production at its mega factories.
The slowdown adds to signs that BYD’s era of record-setting expansion, fuelled by government support for electric vehicle adoption, could be drawing to a close. The company faces mounting challenges in maintaining competitiveness amid an intensifying price war in the world’s largest auto market.
BYD has slashed its sales target for this year by as much as 16 per cent to 4.6 million vehicles, Reuters reported previously. BYD’s general manager of branding and public relations, Li Yunfei, confirmed the target with the South China Morning Post in a report on Monday.
