Chinese automaker BYD sold more electric vehicles in Europe than Tesla for the first time, according to a report by JATO Dynamics, as an aging model lineup and CEO Elon Musk’s politics hurt demand for the U.S. EV maker’s cars.

BYD, which also makes plug-in hybrid vehicles, registered 7,231 battery-powered electric vehicles (BEV) in Europe in April, while Tesla registered 7,165 units, the market research firm said.

“This is a watershed moment for Europe’s car market, particularly when you consider that Tesla has led the European BEV market for years, while BYD only officially began operations beyond Norway and the Netherlands in late 2022,” JATO Dynamics’ global analyst Felipe Munoz said.

  • atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    25
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    1 day ago

    Sometimes I feel like I am the only person on Lemmy worried about the car market in China being subsidized into a global monopoly by the Chinese government and labor practices.

    • Akasazh@feddit.nl
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      7 hours ago

      That’s what the Americans did in the past. And yes it turned out unwise to subjugate oneself to to a leading economy.

    • hark@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      22
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      1 day ago

      I don’t know how you can feel that when it’s been expressed everywhere including Lemmy. You’re missing a talking point of China “stealing IP” though, then you’d have the complete usual set. People were fine with subsidies being used to grow the EV industry in the US (carbon tax credits, direct subsidies to companies like Tesla, income tax credit on US EV purchases, etc) but somehow China subsidizing their own industry is bad. Just because the US corporations took that money to pay themselves more while dragging their feet on producing viable EVs, doesn’t mean China is being unfair by making better use of their subsidy money.

      • atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        11
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 day ago

        I think you are making a bunch of assumptions. I don’t have a problem with China subsidizing its own cars the same way we do. I have a problem with the idea that the current authoritarian governments in the west are either going to let our car industries die or adopt the labor practices to try to compete.

        • hark@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          4
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          23 hours ago

          More likely they’re just going to keep up the tariffs or outright ban Chinese vehicles, then continue to let local industry slowly improve their EVs until they catch up. It’ll delay much-needed reductions in carbon emissions.

    • huquad@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      6 hours ago

      Perhaps if we raise prices, we’ll make more money! Step 3, profit!

  • a4ng3l@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    1 day ago

    Well, setting aside the geopolitics those cars are fantastic. My wife has a Seal and it is much better than my EV6 on pretty much all aspects. The only downside is the local garage which isn’t byd but a local actor who is not the best but as long as they aren’t needed this car is fantastic.