Chinese EV maker BYD Co Ltd BYDDY is closing in fast on Michigan-based Ford Motor Co‘s F global sales despite the former not manufacturing combustion engine vehicles.

What Happened: BYD has sold over 3.25 million vehicles since the start of this year as of the end of October, marking a growth of about 36% from the corresponding period last year. In October alone, the company sold over half a million vehicles, marking a jump of about 36% from October 2023.

If BYD’s 2024 sales were to increase by 36% through the end of the year, its sales would cross over 4 million. Ford sold just 4.4 million vehicles to dealerships across the world in 2023.

According to a report from Bloomberg, BYD now has the chance to beat Ford in terms of annual sales, thereby cementing its position as a top 10 automaker globally. Ford has been selling nearly 1.1 million vehicles worldwide on average for the past three quarters, the report noted.

Why It Matters: BYD Executive Vice President He Zhiqi said on Weibo earlier this month that the company hired over 200,000 people from August to October for car and components manufacturing and increased production by nearly 200,000 vehicles.

According to BYD, the company made over 1.3 million NEVs in the three months from August to October, compared to nearly 900,000 units that it manufactured in the corresponding period of last year.

For the third quarter between July and September, BYD’s operating revenue rose 24% to 201.12 billion yuan ($28.25 billion), the company said in a filing late last month.

BYD’s American rival Tesla Inc. reported a total revenue of only $25.18 billion in the same quarter, making it the first time since 2022 that BYD has trumped Elon Musk’s EV giant in quarterly revenue. BYD stopped making combustion engine vehicles in March 2022 to focus on electric vehicles.

Despite reporting higher revenue than Tesla in the third quarter, BYD’s net profit continued to trail behind Tesla’s net income of $2.167 billion. The company reported a diluted earnings per share of 4 yuan (56 cents) for the quarter, lower than Tesla’s adjusted earnings per share of 72 cents.

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Photo courtesy: BYD