The company announced on Tuesday that its sales of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles soared 313% in April compared to the same month a year ago. Based in Shenzhen Car manufacturer sold a record 106,000 units last month in mainland China.
BYD had already started the year well.
April’s outstanding performance showed that BYD is “fully resilient to the Shanghai city lockdown and [the] disruption to the sector’s supply chain,” Citi analysts wrote on Tuesday.
This is thanks to its “integrated vertical supply chain”, they added. In addition to vehicles, BYD is a major manufacturer of batteries and automotive chips, which he uses in his own cars and also sells to other car manufacturers.
This integrated business model has made the company less vulnerable to supply chain disruptions during ongoing shutdowns in China, while rivals have had to cut production due to chip and battery shortages.
Rivals affected
At least 27 Chinese cities are under some degree of Covid lockdown, affecting around 180 million residents, according to CNN’s latest calculations last week.
Li Auto also reported a 62% drop in car deliveries in April from March, citing “supply chain issues”. In a statement on Sunday, Shen Yanan, co-founder and chairman of the company, said some of its suppliers had halted production altogether as Covid cases surged in the country.
“It had a big impact on our production for this month, causing delays in the delivery of new cars,” he said.
Elon Musk’s electric vehicle maker recorded strong sales in March – it delivered 65,814 cars from its Shanghai factory, up 85% from a year earlier.
