Warren Buffett- Backed BYD Electric Cars Soared Sales by 300%

BYD, which is backed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, is one of the biggest electric vehicle makers in China. BYD sold 61,409 new energy vehicles in August, more than four times the amount sold a year ago, as demand for electric cars continues to rise in the world’s largest auto market. That figure was nearly evenly split between sales of battery electric vehicles and so-called plug-in hybrids.

BYD’s figures focus on sales volumes while Nio, Li Auto, and XPeng released delivery numbers, so the comparison is not like-for-like, but it does indicate the scale of the respective companies. The company car sales rose from 50,492 cars in July to 61,409 in August. BYD shares recently rose by 5.5% at the Hong Kong trading bourse. 

The auto industry globally has been battling with two major issues — the continuing pandemic and a shortage of semiconductors that go into cars.

BYD did not provide any commentary around the August numbers. But in its half-year results released last month, the company said “profitability is affected to some extent by factors including rising prices of raw materials such as bulk commodities.”

China is expected to sell 1.7 million new energy vehicles in the first eight months of this year, a rise from 600,000 cars in the same period of 2020, according to a Reuters report of comments from the vice minister of China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology made on Saturday.