conservatively expects to sell 1.5 million vehicles in 2022, or 2 million if supply chain conditions improve.

(Image credit: BYD)

BYD's cumulative order backlog has reached 400,000 units and is still increasing month by month, local media Cailian reported, citing minutes of the company's investor meeting.

BYD's Han DM-i model has received good order performance since its launch, and the Han series is expected to sell more than 30,000 units in a single month, the minutes show.

BYD (OTCMKTS: BYDDY, HKG: 1211) said the current trend of rising raw material prices is slowing down, and lithium carbonate prices will not have much impact on new energy vehicle (NEV) sales this year if they remain at the current level.

BYD expects China's NEV penetration rate to exceed 35 percent this year, possibly reaching 40 percent.

BYD conservatively expects it to sell 1.5 million units in 2022, and if supply chain conditions improve, sales are expected to reach 2 million units, according to the minutes.

BYD unveiled two new variants of the Han DM - Han DM-i, Han DM-p - on March 19, with the former focusing on fuel economy and the latter on performance.

The BYD Han was launched in July 2020, when an all-electric version, the Han EV, and a plug-in hybrid, the Han DM, were offered. With the Han DM-i and Han DM-p available, the Han family grows to four models.

BYD said on March 20 that the Han DM-i and Han DM-p received 12,098 orders in the 10 hours after opening for pre-sale.

For the full year of 2021, BYD's NEV sales were 603,783 units, up 218.3 percent from 2020, including 593,745 new energy passenger vehicles.

Late last year, BYD told investors it expected to sell up to 1.2 million NEVs in 2022.

On February 11, BYD announced its main goals for the year, the first of which is to serve 3 million NEV customers.

BYD didn't directly mention its sales target for this year, but the figures it announced in early January show that it sold about 1.51 million cumulative new energy passenger vehicles by the end of 2021. That means the company was aiming for about 1.5 million new energy passenger car sales this year.

BYD sells 88,283 NEVs in Feb, up 752.6% year-on-year