Chinese Carmaker BYD Gives Elon Musk’s Tesla a Run for Its Money, Surpasses $100 Billion in Revenue for 2024

Chinese carmaker BYD (Build Your Dreams) has surpassed the $100 billion revenue mark, outpacing rival Elon Musk’s Tesla. 

According to a report by AFP, the Shenzhen-based firm has emerged as a dominant force in China’s highly competitive electric vehicle (EV) market, the largest in the world. 

In recent years, BYD has increasingly sought new growth opportunities abroad, aiming to capture the European market with a compact electric model and super-fast charging capabilities to rival continental brands. The company’s entry into the European market comes at a time when Tesla has struggled with low sales, partly due to Musk's support for far-right political parties in the region.

A statement released Monday evening at the Shenzhen Stock Exchange revealed that BYD recorded 777.1 billion yuan ($107.2 billion) in revenue for 2024. This figure surpasses Tesla’s previously announced $97.7 billion in revenue. 

BYD's revenue surged by 29% from the previous year, outperforming Bloomberg's forecast of 766 billion yuan. The company's net profit also rose by 34% from 2023, reaching a record 40.3 billion yuan in 2024.

According to the stock filing, BYD’s net profit for the final quarter of the year reached an all-time high of 15 billion yuan. 

In terms of sales, BYD sold nearly 4.3 million vehicles in January of the previous year, marking an increase of more than 40% compared to the year before.  Monthly sales also saw a remarkable 161% increase in February, reaching 318,000 units, easily surpassing a steep decline in Tesla’s sales during the same period. 

A look into BYD’s growth story

A metallurgy graduate, Wang Chuanfu founded BYD in 1995 with focus on producing rechargeable nickel-cadmium batteries at a cheaper cost than Japanese competitors.

Thirty years on, BYD has become the world’s leading manufacturer of electric vehicles (EVs). An advantage it has over other electric carmakers is that it manufactures hybrids as well.

BYD’s growth has come as a surprise to many, including Elon Musk. During an interview in 2011, the Tesla CEO had dismissed a question on BYD with a smug laugh.

“Have you seen their car?” he asks the interviewer rhetorically. He said he thought BYD’s product was not “particularly attractive” and that the technology is “not very strong.”

However, a decade later, it seems that Elon Musk realized his mistake by underestimating the Chinese carmaker. In January last year, when Tesla and BYD were running neck and neck, Musk said he believes Chinese EV makers could “pretty much demolish most other car companies in the world” unless stronger trade barriers are put in place.