Warren Buffett, chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., speaks during the … [+]
China electric vehicle leader BYD today added its name to a list of makers in the country to report a big increase in business in December and cap a year of rapid growth.
BYD, the Shenzhen-headquartered vehicle and battery maker backed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, said on Monday sales of new energy vehicles more than tripled in September to 93,945 compared with 28,841 a year earlier. For all of 2021, it sold 603,782 new energy vehicles, compared with new 189,689 in 2020, an increase of 218% from a year earlier, the company said in an announcement.
Earlier this month, BYD domestic rivals XPeng – backed by Alibaba, NIO – backed by Tencent, and Li Auto all reported big increases in December and full-year deliveries in China, the world’s largest auto market and second-largest economy (see related post here).
BYD’s overall business is more diversified than its rivals – it also makes handset components and photovoltaics. Among its customers are Dell, Apple, Xiaomi and Huawei. Berkshire Hathaway holds 225 million shares, or a near 7.9% stake, in BYD worth about $7.7 billion at today’s closing price of HK$265.20 at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
For its part, Tesla said yesterday it delivered 936,172 of its namesake cars and crossovers to global customers in 2021 (see related post); the company doesn’t detail its sales in China.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, is worth $297 billion on the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List today. BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu is worth a mere $22.4 billion.
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