BYD, China’s largest new energy vehicle (NEV) maker, has surpassed 20,000 cumulative NEV sales in the United Kingdom, nearly two years after officially entering the local passenger car market.
According to a report on the semi-official Weibo account @小迪快报, BYD took 19 months to reach its first 10,000 unit sales in the UK and only five additional months to double that figure. In March alone, BYD sold 6,480 vehicles in the country, bringing first-quarter sales to 9,271 units.
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BYD initially entered the UK in 2013 with its all-electric buses and officially launched its passenger vehicle business in March 2023, starting with the Atto 3 model, known as the Yuan Plus in China. The company now offers six models in the UK, including five battery electric vehicles (BEVs) — the Atto 2, Sealion 7, Atto 3, Dolphin, and Seal — and one plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), the Seal U DM-i.
The Atto 2 is the Chinese-market Yuan Up, the Sealion 7 corresponds to the Sealion 07 EV, and the Seal U DM-i is sold as the Song Plus DM-i in China.
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BYD continues to ramp up its European expansion, announcing market entries into Switzerland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia earlier this month. Globally, the company reported NEV sales of 377,420 units in March, with overseas deliveries reaching a record 72,723 units.
In the first quarter of 2024, BYD sold 1,000,804 NEVs, including 206,084 units in international markets. To support its growing global footprint, the automaker recently launched the BYD Shenzhen, a car carrier with capacity for 9,200 vehicles, making it the world’s largest operational vessel of its kind by loading capacity.