(BRK.A), (BRK.B)
While everyone watches Tesla and Nissan to get the pulse of EV car sales, Chinese car-maker BYD is quietly topping their world-wide sales figures month after month.
BYD Co Ltd, which Berkshire Hathaway holds a minority stake in of nearly 10%, sold 5,307 pure electric cars in August 2015. The sales substantially topped both Tesla and Nissan, which had sales of 2,805 and 3,405 respectively.
The August win meant that the company beat Tesla’s and Nissan’s sales figures for the top EV manufacturer for the fourth month in a row.
For the year to date, BYD is in second place behind Nissan and ahead of Tesla.
Multiple Models
BYD’s Qin and Tang models make the company the only automaker to have two models in the top ten. The Qin ranks number one and the Tang is number eight, and BYD will be adding two SUV models, the Song and Yuan, to the product lineup as well.
BYD’s marketing strategy has seen it make inroads across the globe, and it currently has buses and taxis running in over 160 cities in 36 countries.
BYD, which is the world-leader in rechargeable batteries, has yet to enter the U.S. car market with either its all-electric or hybrid vehicles. In the U.S., the company has focused on the battery-powered zero emission bus market, winning contracts in San Diego and Long Beach, California, and in Colorado, Oregon and Washington. The company has built a factory to assemble the buses in Long Beach.
However, BYD is inching toward U.S. car sales. In the spring of 2015 it began a pilot program with Uber in Chicago that used BYDs E6 sedan. The car is a cross between a sedan and SUV, and currently gets roughly 186 miles (300 km) of driving range per charge. The 2016 E6 will reportedly get a range increase to 250 miles (400 km).
For More on BYD, read the Special Report: BYD, Berkshire’s Tesla.
© 2015 David Mazor
Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.