If Mr. Wang Chuanfu could travel back 20 years, what would he say to his then self?
I guess he might have said to himself, “Dude! We're going to make it!”
Indeed, as of the first half of 2024, BYD has achieved quite outstanding results.
In the first half of the year, the company sold a total of 1,607,145 new cars, firmly sitting on the throne of first place. At the same time, no joint venture car company can match its sales data.
BYD can be proud of winning both the enterprise and brand titles
Our traditional culture always teaches us that we must not be proud after achieving a stage of success.
But for BYD, after achieving today's sales results, it can at least make China's new energy vehicles proud.
Through the statistics of the China Passenger Car Association, we can see that in the first half of this year, BYD ranked first in both corporate sales and single brand sales. This set of seemingly “complex” statistics actually reveals a lot of interesting information.
The first piece of information is that China's new energy vehicle industry, led by BYD, is advancing rapidly.
In terms of market size, BYD's market share has reached 13.7%, which means that for every 100 new cars sold in the Chinese market, almost 14 are from BYD.
In the first half of 2024, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in the domestic passenger car market continued to rise; especially in June, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles exceeded 50%. It can be seen that buying fuel vehicles has become a minority, and the era of new energy vehicles has arrived.
The second message is something that the Chinese automobile industry should be proud of.
Because in the first half of the year, BYD's total sales volume far exceeded that of many joint venture brands. The data shows that Volkswagen brand sales volume was 1.2666 million units and Tesla brand sales volume was 426,600 units. Adding their sales volume together, they can only surpass BYD by a little bit, but only a little bit.
In addition, through the sales ranking of automakers in the first half of the year, we can see that BYD is leading with sales of 1.607 million vehicles, nearly 550,000 vehicles ahead of the second place; and this difference of 550,000 vehicles would rank it sixth in this list. From this data, BYD not only has a clear “midfield advantage”, but also in the second half of the year, BYD's sales are expected to continue to follow up and achieve this year's sales target.
Such data comparison is enough to make people proud!
At the same time, we also see that the overall sales of Chinese automakers are increasing. In addition to BYD, the sales of Chery, Geely, Changan and other manufacturers have also exceeded those of first-tier joint ventures. Such data is worthy of pride and even joy for Chinese automakers and Chinese auto companies.
So, how did Chinese car companies, represented by BYD, surpass the “joint venture powerhouses”?
There are many interesting points behind this question.
Advanced thinking layout, a beautiful counterattack
In my opinion, one of the main reasons why Chinese auto brands such as BYD have surpassed foreign brands in market size is that they “stand high and see far”.
Take BYD as an example. This automaker, which started out as a battery manufacturer, actually started diversifying its new energy vehicle layout as early as 2008. In 2008, BYD produced its first plug-in hybrid new energy sedan, the BYD F3DM. At this time, foreign automakers such as Toyota, Volkswagen, Honda, and Nissan were still tinkering with fuel technology.
By 2022, BYD had grown into a large-scale independent automobile manufacturer. Its new energy vehicles sold well, and its fuel vehicles also had a large market size. But at this time point, BYD suddenly announced the suspension of fuel vehicles, completely completing the transformation to new energy.
For a traditional car company to suddenly stop producing fuel vehicles is a very bold and courageous move. And the facts have proved that BYD made a very correct bet. After 2022, the world has accelerated the layout of new energy vehicles.
Therefore, from the perspective of corporate strategic planning, BYD has an extraordinary forward-looking thinking. It predicts the market trend in advance and deploys new energy technologies in advance, which makes BYD well prepared before the new energy era comes.
Such preparation not only makes BYD the “sales king” in every stage after the development of the new energy era.
On July 4, 2024, BYD's 8 millionth new energy vehicle rolled off the production line at its newly completed production base in Thailand. BYD Auto is also the world's first automaker to reach the “8 million new energy vehicle milestone”.
BYD is a bold and thoughtful car company.
When BYD announced that it would stop producing fuel vehicles, many people regarded BYD as a “reckless man” with courage but no strategy. However, practice has proved that BYD is not only courageous and resourceful, but also has extraordinary wisdom. In addition to bold strategies, BYD's success lies in its accurate understanding of the market and its thorough understanding of technology.
BYD has a very famous “fish pond” called the technology “fish pond”.
This automaker invested 39.918 billion yuan in R&D expenses in 2023 alone, a year-on-year increase of 112.15%. Among the revenue/R&D investment ratios of major automakers, BYD has the highest revenue (602.315 billion yuan) and the highest R&D investment. In addition, BYD is also the leader among China's mainstream automakers with a 6.63% R&D investment ratio.
At the same time, BYD also has more than 100,000 R&D personnel and attaches great importance to technology. Even within BYD, leaders like to address each other as “Mr. Wang”. People call Wang Chuanfu “Mr. Wang” instead of “Mr. Wang” or “Chairman”.
BYD's respect for technology has enabled it to acquire a large amount of high-quality technology.
The most obvious example is the DM plug-in hybrid technology and lithium iron phosphate blade battery technology that are widely equipped in various BYD models.
Among them, BYD's DM technology has developed to the fifth generation. The Qin LDM-i equipped with this technology has achieved engine thermal efficiency of 46.06%, comprehensive cruising range of over 2,000 kilometers, and comprehensive fuel consumption per 100 kilometers in the “20s”. Who can not love the ultra-high economy and practicality created by such technology?
In the field of high-end technology, BYD has also achieved a large amount of output through continuous investment. High-end technologies such as Yi Sifang and Yunnian have created excellent chassis and excellent electronic control capabilities, thus having the capital to compete head-on with Western established car companies.
“I have a technology fish pond. I can fish out any technology I want to use and use it.”
With such confidence, BYD can thrive in various market segments. For example, in the A-class car market, BYD can rely on models such as Qin LDM-i and Yuan PLUS to compete with Toyota and Volkswagen's best-selling products.
While possessing advanced product strength, BYD can also effectively control costs through the construction of a complete system, allowing the “798 Qin” to dominate the A-class car market.
At the same time, BYD's high-end brand Yangwang, personalized brand Fangchengbao and safe and intelligent new luxury brand Denza have also gained recognition from users in their respective market segments. It is worth mentioning that BYD has not only gained recognition from domestic users; it has also attracted countless fans abroad.
I believe many of my friends have seen the video of a tycoon from the Middle East test-driving the U8. In the video, the tycoon drove the U8 so fast that it left all the people in the car far behind. He laughed like a bell in the car.
BYD's products have also won the favor of many consumers in Europe. England/Manchester City right-back Kyle Walker spent 45,700 pounds (about 410,000 yuan) to buy a BYDSEAL some time ago. The Premier League superstar expressed his high recognition of this car on social networks and even became a “wild spokesperson” to promote China's BYD to his fellow British people.
In fact, through this series of strengths, we can see that BYD has made good products with strong global competitiveness under the support of powerful technology. To date, BYD has taken root in 88 countries around the world and built its first overseas passenger car factory. In the future, BYD will naturally enter the global mainstream market and become a typical representative of “Chinese car companies going global”.
In addition to its growing global influence, BYD is also stimulating the common progress of the entire industry.
For example, in the full “auto industry competition”, BYD has brought about high-speed and high-quality growth momentum with its technological and system advantages, and has also achieved a business advantage of 30 billion yuan in annual profits. This series of successes is also promoting the technological competition in the entire industry, allowing Chinese brands to better go global.
For example, in 2023, the “leading new forces” in the new energy field, such as Ideal, NIO, and Xiaopeng, all invested large amounts of research and development expenses. This information is enough to show that BYD has formed a “catfish effect” in the industry. With everyone's active participation, China's new energy vehicles are moving towards a high-quality development stage. Only with full competition can the Chinese automobile industry force the industry to compete in technology and continuously provide the market with better products and services, so that Chinese brands can extend to the world and let the world see Chinese brands.
Therefore, in the future, when Chinese cars face the global market, Chinese brands must work together to tell the Chinese story well.
Behind this, the whole industry needs to collaborate. BYD has already set an example; we also have reason to believe that more and more Chinese brands will participate and realize the great development of China's automobile industry.
In conclusion:
Sales of over 1.6 million vehicles in half a year and a milestone of 8 million new energy vehicles… These data are too huge and too shocking. For ordinary people like us, we don't need to be too obsessed with sales data of millions. When buying a car, you can go out and look around more. The best reference answer is to see what brand of cars is the most on the road now. Because the brand chosen by most people at home and abroad must be trustworthy.