BYD sold 300,114 EVs in the first quarter of this year, it said in a filing to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange late on Monday, down from a record quarterly high of 526,409 units sold in the previous three-month period, when it surpassed Tesla.But, BYD's quarterly drop means Tesla took back the sales title based on first-quarter deliveries for Tesla of 386,810, a decline of 20.2% from the prior quarter and 8.5% from a year ago.
Tesla's decline comes amid softer overall demand and a slowdown in the Chinese market where local rivals led by BYD upped the ante in a price war for buyers. Tesla sold 89,064 China-made vehicles in March, up 0.2% from a year earlier, data from the China Passenger Car Association showed on Tuesday. BYD sold 626,263 units of all vehicle types in the first quarter, up 13.4% from a year earlier, but down 33.7% from a record quarterly high of 944,779 in the fourth quarter, the stock exchange filing showed.
Sales of its purely electric models hit 139,902 in March, a 36.3% increase year-on-year, while sales of plug-in hybrids rose 56.4% to 161,729 units.