China's BYD is rivaling Tesla in size. Can it also match its global reach?

abcnews.go.com:

A less flashy Chinese electric vehicle maker is fast closing the gap with Tesla, the longtime, market-leading pioneer

BEIJING — A less flashy Chinese electric vehicle maker is fast closing the gap with Tesla, the longtime, market-leading pioneer.

BYD Co., based in the southern China tech hub of Shenzhen, dethroned Texas-based Tesla Inc. as the top seller of electric cars in the last three months of 2023, according to sales figures released by the companies this week.

Tesla retained the crown for all of 2023, but BYD's sales have skyrocketed on the back of a government-driven EV boom in China. The rise of BYD and other Chinese electric vehicle makers is a challenge not only for Tesla but also the world's major automakers as Chinese competitors push into Europe, Southeast Asia and other overseas markets with a relatively affordable option for drivers who want to go green.

Car makers like Volkswagen, Ford, Honda and Toyota all are playing catch-up with both BYD and Tesla, said James Attwood, acting managing editor at Autocar magazine.

“I think perhaps the most interesting thing is less about the battle between Tesla and BYD and more about what the big established manufacturers that have a hundred years of history in making cars are going to do to catch these upstarts,” he said.

Aggressive price cutting helped Tesla beat analysts' estimates for sales in the October to December quarter, but BYD did even better. The Chinese automaker sold 526,409 electric cars in the three-month period, topping Tesla's 484,507 units.

Its results were boosted by a surge in sales of small, low-cost EVs such as its Seagull and Dolphin models, said Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the China Passenger Car Association. Whether that growth in small