Chinese automaker BYD is set record more than 4 million units sold over the course of the 2024 calendar year, with plans to up that total to between 5 and 6 million units in 2025. The Chinese electric vehicle producer is now on track to outsell Ford and Honda with regard to total global sales, and is well on is way to catching up to GM as well. To note, GM sold 6.2 million vehicle worldwide during the 2023 calendar year, an increase of 4.2 percent compared to 2022.
According to a recent report from Reuters, BYD has significantly expanded its production capacity and workforce to sustain its growing sales. The company added nearly 200,000 units of production capacity this year while hiring 200,000 workers across its auto and parts manufacturing operations. This brings BYD’s total workforce to close to 1 million employees as of September of 2024, up from 703,500 workers at the end of 2023.
BYD’s aggressive expansion strategy has already pushed the company toward surpassing its 2024 sales target. In the first 11 months of the year, BYD delivered 3.76 million vehicles, including 506,804 units sold in November alone. This success is backed by a diverse product lineup that includes new plug-in hybrid models, which complement its extensive electric vehicle (EV) offerings.
A significant portion of BYD’s sales – over 90 percent – occur in its home market of China. The automaker’s market share in China grew to 16.2 percent as of October of 2024, up from 12.5 percent recorded in 2023.
By contrast, GM has faced significant challenges in the Chinese market as of late. GM China sales fell by 21 percent during the third quarter of 2024, dropping to 426,200 units. However, GM recently reported selling over 200,000 vehicles in China during November, signaling a potential rebound driven by restructuring efforts and renewed product strategies. GM has previously signaled that it is confident it can turn a profit in the Chinese market, even in the face of growing competition from domestic automakers like BYD.
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GM gave BYD a head start catching up by abandoning other markets for China. Now comes the scrambling to get back into those other markets part because their one stock in China is bleeding $5 billion fast, and all the while those potential customers in those abandoned markets have forgotten about GM especially in Europe.
Oh and one more thing. The caveat that 90% of BYDs sales are in mainland China while still catching up to GMs global numbers is more telling of how GM was foolish in abandoning other markets to focus only on China when they could have gone the Toyota, VW, Hyundai, and yes, BYD route and investing their time and money in striving for global competition rather than waving the white flag at the slightest struggle they encountered to go all in on one market they took for granted.
Unfortunately gm has waved the white flag many times in the USA as well.
And you are not wrong at all. Ford and GM are two of the biggest quitters I have ever seen in my life. They abandoned sedans to focus on SUVs and now are abandoning mid-sized SUVs (Ford first killing off the Edge and now GM possibly killing the Blazer ICE in favor of the lackluster selling EV version). Anything that has the slightest bit of struggle they ditch. Bye bye went the Volt, one of the best hybrid vehicles of all time that could have been an excellent bridge between ICE and EVs. If you smoke, be like Ford or GM and quit.
Unless it’s for China. Everything China must be catered to even while they tell them they are not wanted anymore and get out of their home grown brands way to their faces.
Over the past 10 years, Europe and the United States were ignored in favor of China. Now that China’s learned from established automakers they don’t need gm, Ford, Stellantis et al anymore. Kind of like the man who leaves his wife and two kids for a much younger woman and when she realizes that he is getting old and needs more attention she leaves Him. He can’t go back to his original family because she’s moved on and his kids have disowned him. Much the same way, GM has given the North American market the leavings from its global operations and has abandoned segment after segment. Now those customers are gone because GM has given them nothing to come back to.
That is exactly the analogy I used last time. lol. There is one caveat though. Maybe they can pick up Nissans and Mitsubishis old customers since these two brands appear to have their clocks ticking as of late.
That I find really sad. I grew up in a Nissan family but back then (90s), Nissan was on Hondas level of quality. They decided to get in bed with the French and that went downhill hard.
From OZ, Nissan has never had the quality of Honda.
The usual suspects / EXPERTS having strong opinions on everything EV, China, Mary Barra, California CARB, EPA, Global warming etc.
We’ll see where GM lands in a few years. As for China, its not looking good for GM. So I standby my opinion in that they completely squandered their investments.
And what’s wrong with that?
BYD’s vehicles are light years ahead of GM.
I bet they are so ahead of everyone else they can take away your personal liberties and freedom of speech like the party the founder belongs to. But hey keep taking those perks you enjoy for granted.
The posting was about the BYD EV’s and their growing market share, not the political and social differences between China and USA.
Just check the BYD Shark truck and see for yourself. why they are gaining sales and market share.
Because cheap. That’s why. People in countries where the Shark sells are low income countries as it is and in many cases, the best they can afford is a BYD. In Dubai, plenty of Chinese brands sell there. But my brother in-law who lives there, will tell you its only the low income people that buy them. The rest buy established brands like Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai, and so on.
Going back to the price, included in that cheap price are rock bottom wages on the mainland and subsidies from a government that wants Americans (and Japanese) unemployed and dead which BTW, the CEO of BYD is a member of. But again. Keep that head buried underneath the sand. Whatever dystopia that comes from a future where their influence reigns supreme and abides only by their own rules as opposed to a world where the rule of law is dictated by a group of democracies with leaders chosen by the people including nations like India and Brazil, just remember. People like you, putting principle in the trash, have chosen this future. Remember when everyone praised the Germans in the 30s for all the achievements the ruling part did before their true colors came out? Boy how history may very well be repeating itself.
As I’ve said in the past, GM is destined to be a regional automotive player at best as they fled Europe, Australia (Holden), SE Asia, and now China despite billions invested. Economies of scale are already diminished and when they can’t sell trucks, they are finished. Decades of poor management and selling their soul for short term gains in China will be their demise. The Chinese have focused their resources to destroy the last bastion of Western manufacturing dominance – the auto industry, and are well on their way to dismantling all of them including German and Japanese automakers. VW, Stellantis and Nissan are in serious trouble and have greater debt than most countries. Its going to get ugly over the next couple of years with bankruptcies, bailouts, etc while BYD and other companies continue their conquest. All of the BYD fanyboiz should read up on their CEO’s call to arms for all Chinese automakers collectively to ‘demolish the old legends and achieve new world-class brands’. They have been preparing for this for decades, even Toyota is losing ground rapidly.
Make no mistake, BYD is as much a state-owned company as the big four (SAIC, FAW, Dongfeng, Changan) as the company is run by a party member. So absolutely the plan is global dominance to the destruction of everyone else’s industries.
They want a world where the rules are written by them for the benefit of them only. Any country can be bullied and taken over by them and if anyone has anything to say about it then they will choke off your supplies. The Philippines are getting a taste of the them now with their coast guard attacking the Philippine fishing boats off the coast of the Philippines in international waters.
“Its going to get ugly over the next couple of years” is an understatement. Its going to get REALLY ugly having an authoritarian nation known for crushing any descent and imprisoning anyone that has opinions against the government, and coercing any country that tries to investigate them (ask Brazil), as the new global leader influencing the world. This is why I keep saying don’t take your freedoms for granted. Just like the US and UK were able to influence the world in their days so can CCP China. We are already seeing a glimpse of that influence from internet censorship of freedom of speech, to Gavin Newsom praising and promoting BYD in China (when he has home grown brands like Tesla, Rivian, and Lucid to promote), to France crushing anti-Netanyahu protesters, to the WEF “you will own nothing and like it” and “China is a model the world should follow”, yeah, I doubt they are talking about their economy there, to the Olympic committee threatening anyone that brings up investigating Chinese athletes for doping (I guess Russias influence isn’t enough here as they do get investigated. But not China).
And the clueless fanyboiz with their heads buried in the sand are celebrating this. Get ready for a dystopian ride.