Chinese carmakers BYD, Chery chart 80% growth overseas as EV demand spikes

Chery, which spearheaded the go-global drive among mainland China’s automotive groups and is the country’s largest car exporter, delivered three times as many cars overseas as at home last month.

The state-owned company, based in eastern China’s Anhui province, handed 181,571 vehicles to customers outside the mainland in May, up 81 per cent from a year earlier. Overseas sales accounted for 73 per cent of its total sales for the month.

“The numbers are eye-catching because they show how Chery is evolving into a truly international player with overseas sales making up a majority of its total,” said Phate Zhang, founder of Shanghai-based data provider CnEVPost. “It is not alone, because its domestic peers, like BYD and Great Wall Motor, are also revving up their international expansions, banking on their technological and production advantages.”

BYD, the world’s largest EV builder, also posted an 81 per cent year-on-year jump in overseas sales last month, with its 160,177 units representing 42 per cent of its total sales.

Success abroad has been especially important to the Chinese carmakers this year amid a domestic sales slump owing to reduced government-funded buyer incentives.

The buoyant numbers would offset lost revenue on the mainland because Chinese-made cars commanded higher prices in markets like Europe and Southeast Asia, analysts said.