China’s BYD closer to taking Tesla's electric car top spot

Models pose with a BYD car in Japan日本模特与比亚迪汽车合影

Chinese company BYD has moved a step closer to toppling Elon Musk's Tesla as the world's biggest-selling manufacturer of electric vehicles.

中国公司比亚迪距离取代埃隆·马斯克(Elon Musk)旗下的特斯拉(Tesla)成为全球销量最大的电动汽车制造商又近了一步。

The firm said on Monday it had sold a record 526,000 battery-only vehicles in the last three months of 2023.

That was helped by a more than 70% surge in sales in December.

US-based Tesla is scheduled to release its latest quarterly vehicle production and delivery figures before Wall Street opens on Tuesday.

该公司周一表示，2023 年最后三个月已售出创纪录的 526,000 辆纯电动汽车。

这得益于 12 月份销售额猛增 70% 以上。

总部位于美国的特斯拉计划在周二华尔街开盘前发布最新的季度汽车产量和交付数据。

For the year as a whole, Shenzen-based BYD said it had sold more than 3 million so-called-new energy vehicles (NEVs), which includes battery-only vehicles and hybrids.

Almost 1.6 million of its total sales were battery-only vehicles, the firm said.

总部位于深圳的比亚迪表示，全年销量超过 300 万辆所谓的新能源汽车(NEV)，其中包括纯电池汽车和混合动力汽车。

该公司表示，其总销量中近 160 万辆是纯电动汽车

Industry analysts have forecast that Tesla sold around 483,000 electric vehicles in the last three months of 2023 and 1.82 million for the year as a whole.

Last January, Mr Musk said that Tesla had the potential to achieve 2 million deliveries in 2023 but had since warned that higher borrowing costs were putting pressure on demand for his company's cars.

行业分析师预测，特斯拉在 2023 年最后三个月销售了约 48.3 万辆电动汽车，全年销售了 182 万辆。

去年 1 月，马斯克表示，特斯拉有潜力在 2023 年实现 200 万辆汽车的交付量，但此后他警告称，借贷成本上升正在对其公司的汽车需求造成压力。

BYD's chief executive Wang Chuanfu co-founded BYD with his cousin in Shenzhen in 1995.

The company made a name for itself as a manufacturer of rechargeable batteries - used in smartphones, laptops and other electronics - that competed with pricier Japanese imports.

It started selling its shares on the stock market in 2002 and diversified by purchasing a struggling state-owned car manufacturer, Qinchuan Automobile Company.

1995年，比亚迪首席执行官王传福与其表弟在深圳共同创立了比亚迪。

该公司因生产可充电电池而闻名，该电池用于智能手机、笔记本电脑和其他电子产品，可与价格较高的日本进口电池竞争。

该公司于 2002 年开始在股票市场上出售股票，并通过收购陷入困境的国有汽车制造商秦川汽车公司来实现多元化。

Since 2008 BYD has counted veteran US investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway as a shareholder.

Analysts say BYD owes its growth to its original business - batteries. They are among the most expensive parts of an EV and making them in-house saves BYD a lot of money.

Many of BYD's competitors rely on third-party manufacturers for batteries.

自2008年起，比亚迪就将美国资深投资者沃伦·巴菲特旗下的伯克希尔·哈撒韦公司列为股东。

分析师表示，比亚迪的增长归功于其原有业务——电池。它们是电动汽车中最昂贵的部件之一，内部制造可以为比亚迪节省大量资金。

比亚迪的许多竞争对手都依赖第三方制造商提供电池。