The decline in sales at Chinese electric car maker BYD continued for the seventh month in a row in March. According to Reuters calculations, the company sold 300,222 vehicles last month, a fifth fewer than in the previous year. This represents a decline of 30 percent for the entire first quarter, as Reuters calculated based on a message from BYD manager Li Yunfei on his Weibo page and previous company announcements.
At the same time, the importance of the export business is increasing. In the first quarter, BYD sold 320,673 vehicles abroad, which corresponds to 45.8 percent of total sales. For the full year, BYD aims to sell 1.5 million cars outside of China.
BYD is under increasing pressure in its home market, particularly from Geely and Leapmotor. Last but not least, the tough price war for electric cars is causing problems for the company. Last year, profits fell for the first time in four years. At the beginning of the year, some electric car subsidy programs expired, which further dampened demand for electric cars.
