SHANGHAI, Apr 6 (SMM) - On April 3, BYD officially announced that it will stop the production of fuel vehicles from March 2022 according to its strategic development needs, making it the first car maker in China to make such announcement and put it into practice.
BYD said that it will focus on pure electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles in the future.
BYD's latest March production and sales report shows that its new energy vehicle production was 106,700 units in March, and its sales were 104,900 units, while the production and sales of fuel vehicles were zero.
So far, BYD's cumulative undelivered orders have reached 400,000 units, and they are still increasing month by month. Under conservative estimates, BYD’s sales will hit 1.5 million units in 2022. However, if the supply chain improves, its sales may reach 2 million units. BYD’s Han DM-i has been very popular since it hit the market, and it is expected that the monthly sales of the Han series will exceed 30,000 units. BYD said that the increase in raw material prices is slowing down and projects that its NEV sales will not be much affected this year if lithium carbonate prices stay at the current levels. BYD is also further expanding the high-end market by launching high-end brands, and the price range is expected to be 500,000-1 million yuan.
Judging from the overall performance of the current market, the new energy vehicles are currently in high demand, and its growth rate has completely overtaken fuel vehicles.
According to the CAAM, China’s automobile production and sales were 4.24 million units and 4.27 million units respectively from January to February 2022, up 8.8% YoY and 7.5% YoY. Among them, NEV production and sales were 820,000 units and 765,000 units respectively, up 160% YoY and 150% YoY. BYD predicts that the penetration rate of new energy vehicles will exceed 35% and may reach 40% this year.
