Sales Overseas Surged: Latest Updates and Analysis

BYD’s overseas sales surged to a new record as its global EV plans kick into high gear

The world’s largest EV maker is quickly making a name for itself on a global scale. With overseas sales surging 83% last month, BYD is looking for even more market share in 2025.

BYD sets new overseas EV sales record in January 2025.

BYD sold over 300,500 new energy vehicles (NEVs) last month, up nearly 50% from January 2023. Like most Chinese automakers, BYD reports NEV sales, including battery electric (EV) and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) vehicles.

Although sales were up year-over-year (YOY), they weren’t quite as high as the over 500,000 vehicles sold in September, November, and December to close out 2024.

BYD’s commercial vehicle sales reached 4,092, up 793% from January 2023 (474). Of the 296,446 passenger vehicles sold last month, 125,377 were EVs, while the other 171,069 were plug-in hybrids, up 19% and 79% from last year, respectively.

Last month, the “Ocean” series was BYD’s top-selling series, with 145,918 units sold, followed by the Dynasty lineup (132,293).

BYD’s Song Plus (PHEV and EV) was the best-selling model in the lineup, with over 51,300 sold last month. Its low-cost Seagull EV, starting at under $10,000 in China, was the second-best seller, with 41,212 sold last month.

Other brand sales included 6,219 Fang Cheng Bao models, 11,720 Denza vehicles, and 286 Yangwang luxury models.

The biggest bright spot was BYD’s overseas sales. BYD sold a record 66,336 NEVs overseas in January, up 83% from last year and 16% from December (57,154).

Behind CATL, BYD is also China’s second-largest power battery maker. The firm installed [website] GWh of power and energy storage battery capacity last month, 37% YOY, but down from [website] GWh in December.

BYD is opening several new EV plants overseas as it looks to gain market share in key markets. After opening its first in Thailand last year, BYD is expanding with new plants in Indonesia, Mexico, Brazil, Hungary, Turkey, and Pakistan.

Like the US and most countries, China’s auto market is seasonal. The end of the year is usually the strongest, while the beginning is slower.

The Chinese New Year, when sales are especially slow this year, runs from January 28 to February 4. Most automakers in China reported lower sales numbers to start the year than in December, but they are still higher than the previous year as the market continues shifting to EVs.

BYD, which stopped making vehicles entirely powered by gas engines in 2022, is aggressively expanding into new overseas markets with competitively priced models.

After outselling Honda and Nissan for the first time in 2024, will BYD continue climbing the global sales ranks this year? It could be on pace to top Ford. Let us know what you think in the comments.

Audi presented Monday that it will upend a naming scheme presented last year and have internal-combustion and electric vehicles share nameplates.

Are plug-in hybrids an on-ramp to fully electric vehicles, or undue cost and complexity? Are they something consumers asked for, or something created ...

Greenland could emerge as a major source of raw materials for electric-vehicle batteries—if industrial interests have their way.

Toyota is still the world’s top automaker, but with EV sales at just 1%, how long will it last?

Toyota maintained its title as the world’s top-selling automaker, with nearly 11 million vehicles sold in 2024. However, EV sales accounted for about 1% of Toyota’s global volume as it continued to lag the industry. With rivals like BYD and Hyundai closing in, how long can Toyota keep its spot at the top?

Toyota EV sales continued lagging in 2024 at only 1%.

Toyota held onto the title for the fifth straight year after selling over [website] million vehicles in 2024. That includes its Daihatsu (compact cars), Hino (heavy-duty trucks and buses), and luxury Lexus brands.

Although it was enough to stay ahead of Volkswagen, which sold just over 9 million vehicles last year ([website] from 2023), Toyota’s global sales slipped for the first time in two years. The Japanese auto giant’s sales fell [website] from the roughly [website] million vehicles sold in 2023.

Toyota and Lexus brand sales were down [website] from 2023, at about [website] million units, also the first year-over-year decline in two years.

The lower total was mostly due to a 20% drop in domestic sales. Incorrect vehicle certifications caused Toyota to halt production of the popular Prius, Yaris Cross, and Corolla Fielder models.

Overseas sales helped offset the fallout with higher demand in North America and India. In other key markets, like China ([website], Indonesia ([website], and Thailand ([website], Toyota stated “the shift to new energy vehicles” and an “intensifying price competition” caused the lower sales total.

Despite hybrids reaching a record 40% share in 2024, Toyota’s EV sales lagged the industry. Last year, Toyota, including Lexus, sold just 139,892 pure EV models, accounting for just [website] of sales.

Volkswagen sold nearly 745,000 electric vehicles last year, or around 8% of sales, which is still on the lower end. And that’s down [website] from the 771,100 VW delivered in 2023.

While the two global auto leaders continue to lag in the shift to electric vehicles, others, such as BYD and Hyundai, are emerging as true global threats.

BYD outsold Nissan and Honda for the first time last year, with over [website] million passenger vehicles sold, up 41% from around 3 million in 2023. The Chinese EV leader surpassed Volkswagen in 2023 to become China’s largest car maker, and now it’s moving up the global ranks.

Hyundai Motor Group, the third top-selling automaker globally, sold over [website] million vehicles last year. Although sales were down 1% from 2023, Hyundai is closing the gap with Toyota and Volkswagen. The Hyundai and Kia brands both sold over 200,000 electric cars globally last year for an around.

Hyundai and Kia are launching several new EVs in key segments that are expected to see significant demand, including the three-row IONIQ 9 and low-cost Kia EV3 and Hyundai Inster SUVs.

With new threats emerging, how long will Toyota hold onto the global sales lead? BYD is aggressively expanding overseas this year, with electric cars rolling out across nearly every segment, including entry-level pickup trucks, smart SUVs, luxury models, and electric supercars.

BYD sold more EVs in Japan than Toyota last year, its home market, and 2024 was BYD’s first full sales year in the country.

Hyundai is also preparing for a big year in 2025 with the updated 2025 IONIQ 5, IONIQ 9, and Inster EV arriving. Kia expects sales growth this year with the low-cost EV3 rolling out globally. Later this year, it will unveil the EV4, its highly anticipated entry-level electric sedan.

Meanwhile, Toyota continues delaying new EV launches and other major projects. Its long-awaited ultra-efficient EVs, expected next year, will not arrive until at least mid-2027.

With the industry moving toward all-electric vehicles, how long can Toyota delay the inevitable? As EV technology advances, hybrids will only be in style for much longer.

Dannar keeps adapting its Mobile Power Station to meet the needs of the electrified off road market, bringing power to forests, construction sites, an......

The Optiq is Cadillac’s new entry-level electric SUV. Starting under $500 a month, it is also the cheapest Cadillac SUV you can lease right now.

Tesla pushed an improvement to Supercharger V4 posts allowing 325-kw peak with Cybertruck.

True 500-kw, 800-volt charging comes later, with V4 cabinets.

Ford’s electric F-150 Lightning is losing ground as its aging EV lineup faces new threats

Ford’s F-150 Lightning is losing ground in the US with new electric pickups like the Tesla Cybertruck and Chevy Silverado EV now available. Although Ford plans to launch smaller, more affordable EVs, including an SUV and pickup, they won’t arrive for (at least) another two years. With new threats, including a wave of lower-cost EVs and Trump threatening to impose tariffs on imports from Mexico, will Ford’s aging lineup set it further behind?

Ford Lightning falls behind in aging EV lineup.

It’s been almost three years since the first F-150 Lightning models rolled out of Ford’s Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan.

Aside from the Rivian R1T, the Lightning was among the first electric pickups available in the US. Rivian delivered the first R1T models in October 2021. The first Lightning consumers received their vehicles in May 2022.

Despite setting a new January EV sales record, Ford sold fewer Lightning models than last year. Last month, sales slipped [website] to just 1,907, compared to 2,258 in January 2024.

The Mustang Mach-E was the primary reason behind Ford’s higher EV sales last month. Ford sold 3,529 Mach-Es in January, up 172% from the 1,295 sold last year.

After falling behind GM in the US electric vehicle market last year, Ford launched significant incentives toward the end of the year to boost sales. In October, Ford introduced its “Power Promise” program, giving all EV buyers a free Level 2 home charger worth $2,000. It extended the promotion last month after sales jumped 16% in Q4.

(via Bloomberg), Mach-E models sat on the lot for an average of over three months before the incentive, nearly 20% longer than the average EV.

Ford’s aging Lightning and Mach-E are already falling behind new EV competitors like the Tesla Cybertruck and Honda Prologue.

’s 2024 EV sales analysis, Tesla sold 38,965 Cybertrucks in the US last year, beating out the Lightning at 33,510. Even the new electric Chevy Silverado is catching up.

After the lower-priced LT trim began arriving at dealerships in October, GM sold 2,176 Silverado EVs in the final three months of 2024, for a total of 7,428. Later this year, Ram will launch its first electric pickup, the Ram 1500 REV.

Ford is betting on a new low-cost EV platform as it looks to keep pace with global leaders like Tesla and BYD. The new platform, under development by a team of former Tesla, Lucid, Rivian, and Apple execs in California, will underpin a series of smaller, more affordable EVs.

The first models are expected to be a smaller electric crossover SUV and pickup, starting at under $30,000. However, the new EVs are not expected to arrive until at least 2027.

By then, Ford will face stiff competition with Rivian launching its smaller R2, Volkswagen’s Scout brand arriving, etc.

With Trump threatening a 25% tariff on imports from Mexico, where the Mustang Mach-E is built, Ford could face more headwinds this year.

Ford has already pushed back several significant electric vehicle models and other projects. Last year, it dropped plans to build a three-row electric SUV, which CEO Jim Farley once described as a “personal bullet train.”.

The larger SUV was expected to launch this year, but instead, rivals like Hyundai, Kia, Lucid, and Volvo are taking advantage with new three-row electric SUVs (IONIQ 9, EV90, Gravity, and EX90) arriving in the US this year.

After delivering the first models last March, Honda’s Prologue already outsold the Ford Mustang Mach-E last month.

Ford’s Model e electric vehicle unit lost around $5 billion last year and is expected to continue racking up the losses in 2025. Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas forecasts similar losses at around $[website] million this year.

We will learn more tomorrow when Ford reports its fourth-quarter earnings. Check back for a breakdown of the findings.

Tesla shareholders have voted for the questions they want to ask Elon Musk and Tesla’s management at the upcoming earning results this week. The quest...

Are plug-in hybrids an on-ramp to fully electric vehicles, or undue cost and complexity? Are they something consumers asked for, or something created ...

Stardust Power (Nasdaq: SDST), a US battery-grade lithium product developer, has officially broken ground on its $[website] billion lithium refinery in Okla...