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BEIJNG, January 6 (TMTPOST)—BYD (002594.SZ‎) has secured championship as the top seller of new energy vehicles (NEVs) in China in 2022, beating foreign brands like Volkswagen and Tesla.

The company sold 1.86 million NEVs last year, a year-on-year increase of 212.8 percent. However, the number is slightly lower than the estimated 1.92 million, the forecast given by the company in a meeting with suppliers last November.

The gap between the actual performance and the forecast could result from the surging nationwide Covid-19 cases last December. Lian Yubo, vice president of BYD, said that 20 to 30 percent of employees were absent from work, costing the company 2,000 to 3,000 vehicles per day. He estimated that losses in December alone added up to 20,000 to 30,000 units.

Despite the losses, BYD has left competitors far behind. According to the China Passenger CarAssociation, retail sales of BYD"s passenger NEVs in the first 11 months of 2022 totaled 1.58 million units, toping the list of NEV providers. The company’s market share reached 31.3 percent, while the second, AIC-GM-Wuling Automobile, only accounts for 8 percent of the market with the sales volume of 403,000 units. Tesla ranked third on the list.

“BYD cars are often sold at 150,000 yuan (21,857), while major electric cars of Volkswagen cost over 200,000 yuan,” a salesperson from the electric vehicle business of FAW-Volkswagen said.

Wang Chuanfu, chairman of BYD, was said to have proposed to set the sales target of this year at 4 million units. That means the company has to double the sales volume, when the nation’s subsidies on purchase of electric vehicles ended on the last day of 2022. The industry is not optimistic about the the overall demand growth in NEVs in 2023.

Li Bin, founder and chief executive officer of NIO (09866.HK), said that in the first half of 2023, there would be huge pressure on the supply and demand sides of the electric vehicle market. He estimated that it would be harder for the demand to recover. “If we look on the bright side, our customers’ desire to purchase may gradually recover in May,” he said.