NEWS ON 01/10

BYD BECOMES TOP SELLING EV MAKER, TAKING TESLA'S CROWN

比亚迪夺得全球新能源车销冠

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BYD BECOMES TOP SELLING EV MAKER, TAKING TESLA'S CROWN

比亚迪夺得全球新能源车销冠

BYD has claimed the title of World's Best-Selling EV maker in a hard-fought battle with Tesla.

比亚迪在与特斯拉的激烈竞争中夺得了全球最畅销电动汽车制造商的称号。

Now that 2023 results are in for both companies we can see just how fierce a race it was. Both companies beat analyst estimates for the numbers of EVs they sold in the final three months of last year, and both benefitted from cutting prices on their vehicles in a bid to grab market share.

如今，两家公司2023年的业绩已经出炉，我们可以看到这场竞争有多么激烈。去年最后三个月，两家公司的电动汽车销量都超过了分析师的预期，而且两家公司都通过降低汽车价格来抢占市场份额。

Let's look at the numbers first. BYD sold a little over 3 million vehicles last year -- mostly in China. More than half were pure electric, and the rest were plug-in hybrid EVs. That puts annual sales up by 62 percent compared to 2022.

我们先来看看数据。比亚迪去年的汽车销量略高于300万辆，主要集中在中国。其中一半以上为纯电动汽车，其余为插电式混合动力电动汽车。与2022年相比，年销量增长了62%。

Tesla sold 1.8 million vehicles -- falling just short of CEO Elon Musk's target of 2 million, but still beating analyst estimates.

特斯拉售出了180万辆汽车--略低于首席执行官埃隆-马斯克的200万辆目标，但仍超过了分析师的预期。

And in the most recent quarter? ... Tesla delivered 484,507 pure EVs between October and December, while BYD sold 526,409. 

最近一个季度呢？…特斯拉在10月至12月间交付了484,507辆纯电动汽车，而比亚迪则售出了526,409辆。

So how did BYD overtake Tesla before the year-end finish line?

那么，比亚迪是如何在年底前超越特斯拉的呢？

Partly it's the price war which has been going on in the EV sector -- particularly here in China -- for the last 12 months. Tesla started it last January by slashing【大量削减】prices on several models and every other automaker followed suit.

部分原因是过去12个月电动车行业，尤其在中国的价格战。去年1月，特斯拉率先对多款车型降价，其他汽车制造商纷纷效仿。

But it quickly became obvious that Tesla wasn't going to win that price war. Even with generous discounts, its cars are just more expensive. Each model is a premium product. And while BYD has high-end models of its own, it also has cheaper ones. And with most of the world dealing with high interest rates, a cheaper car, which requires a smaller loan from the bank, can look at lot more attractive. And some analysts have said that tax credits in the US may have pushed some Tesla-buyers to get their cars in 2023 instead of 2024.

但很快，特斯拉显然无法赢得这场价格战。即使有丰厚的折扣，特斯拉汽车的价格还是更贵。每款车型都是高端产品。比亚迪虽然也有自己的高端车型，但它有更便宜的车型。在全球大多数国家都面临高利率的情况下，一辆需要向银行申请较少贷款的廉价汽车看起来更有吸引力。一些分析师表示，美国的税收减免政策可能促使一些特斯拉买家在2023年而非2024年购买汽车。

BYD is also just a generally better recognised brand these days. Tesla might still be a by-word for pure electric cars, but all over the world, more and more BYDs are popping up on the roads. For big chunks of last year BYD models were the best-selling EVs in Thailand, Israel, New Zealand and Singapore. During a trip back to Australia recently, I was shocked when my family started discussing the brand over Christmas dinner.

比亚迪如今也是知名度普遍较高的品牌。特斯拉可能仍然是纯电动汽车的代名词，但在世界各地，越来越多的比亚迪汽车出现在道路上。去年，在泰国、以色列、新西兰和新加坡，比亚迪的大部分车型都是最畅销的电动汽车。最近一次回澳大利亚，当我的家人在圣诞节晚餐上讨论这个品牌时，我感到非常震惊。

That aside, BYD's position on top of the EV market right now is still due to sales here in China. Roughly 90 percent of its cars are made and sold here where its market share jumped from 21 to 27 percent this year. According to the China Passenger Car Association, Tesla's market share in China is 12 percent.

撇开这一点不谈，比亚迪目前在电动车市场上的领先地位仍然要归功于中国国内的销量。比亚迪约90%的汽车都在中国生产和销售，今年的市场份额从21%跃升至27%。根据中国汽车协会的数据，特斯拉在中国的市场份额为12%。

The two also have very different sales strategies. BYD is quite traditional: selling through dealerships【经销公司】. In fact BYD has said it's going to be paying out a total of 2 billion yuan in bonuses to Chinese dealerships this year for meeting their sales targets.

两者的销售策略也大相径庭。比亚迪非常传统：通过经销商销售。比亚迪已经表示，今年将向完成销售目标的中国经销商支付总计20亿元人民币的奖金。

Tesla does things differently. If you want to buy one, you can only buy it from Tesla. And their staff seem to do a much better job of selling the product. According to data from China Merchants Bank, in China, Tesla sells more than twice as many cars per store as BYD does. BYD just has considerably more stores.

特斯拉则不同。如果你想买特斯拉，只能从专卖店购买。而且他们的员工似乎在销售产品方面做得更好。根据招商银行的数据，在中国，特斯拉每家店的汽车销量是比亚迪的两倍多。比亚迪只是拥有更多的门店。

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