It appears that even market leader BYD is not immune to the slowdown in battery EVs (BEVs), with April 2024’s global sales of BYD’s BEV models reversing 3.9%, to 134,465 units. It’s BYD’s first month of decline for BEV models in a very long time.

Note that this is a wholesales figure (vehicle is transferred to dealer), not actual vehicle registration by customers.

Still, the slowdown in BEV demand is not a big problem for BYD. Unlike Tesla, BYD doesn’t believe in a BEV-only product line-up, precisely for cyclical market shifts like this.

More than half of BYD’s models are plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), which in China, also enjoy the same subsidies and fast-tracked license plate registrations (waiver of monthly registration quota, in big cities) as BEVs.

While demand for BEVs is showing signs of easing, even in China, demand for BYD’s dual-mode DM series PHEV models have grown by 9.8% month-on-month.

BYD’s Dual Mode (DM) PHEV powertrains are offered in several packages: DM-i (Dual Mode Intelligence) is the standard offering, but there’s also the performance focused DM-p, and off-road focused DMO.

The Camry-class BYD Qin L is the company's latest PHEV model. It pairs a 1.5-litre naturally aspirated 4-cylinder engine is paired with a 160 kW (217 PS) electric motor, driven by a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery of between 10.08 kWh to 15.9 kWh capacity, depending on variant. BYD says the Qin L will have between 60 km to 90 km of EV-only driving range.

Traditionally, fully electric (BEV) models have dominated BYD’s total sales. However, since February 2024, sales of BYD plug-in hybrids have eclipsed that of BEV models, and that trend has maintained for three consecutive months.

In December 2023, plug-in hybrids contributed 44% of BYD’s total passenger car sales. By April 2024, the figure is now 57%, according to the latest sales data shared by BYD.

BYD sold 313,245 units of new energy vehicle (NEV) passenger cars in April 2024. April was also BYD’s best-ever month for export sales, growing 176.6% year-on-year to reach 41,011 units.

NEV is a Chinese term that includes all vehicles that can accept plugged-in electric charging, so NEV includes plug-in hybrids (PHEVs).

From January to April 2024, BYD sold 936,446 units of NEV passenger cars, up 23.6%. Sales of BEVs grew 17.7%, but PHEVs outpaced it by nearly twice as much, growing 29.2%.

Closer to our region, BYD has already previewed plug-in hybrid models like the Denza D9 DM-i in Thailand. The BYD Seal U DM-i will be the marque's first PHEV model in Southeast Asia when it goes on sale in Thailand later this year. Currently, BYD only sells BEV models in our region.