sold 104,364 passenger BEVs in April, up 1.65 percent from March, and 105,103 PHEVs, up 1.63 percent from March.

BYD sold 210,295 new energy vehicles (NEVs) in April, up 98.31 percent from 106,042 units in the same month last year and up 1.55 percent from 207,080 units in March, according to data released today.

The company discontinued production and sales of vehicles powered entirely by internal combustion engines in March last year and switched to focus on producing plug-in hybrids and pure electric vehicles.

BYD's NEVs include passenger cars as well as commercial vehicles, with sales of 209,467 new energy passenger cars in April, up 98.59 percent from 105,475 units in the same month last year and up 1.64 percent from 206,089 units in March.

BYD's new energy commercial vehicles sold 828 units in April, up 46.03 percent from 567 units in the same month last year, but down 16.45 percent from 991 units in March.

Among these passenger NEVs, battery electric vehicles (BEVs) sold 104,364 units, up 81.81 percent from 57,403 units a year ago and up 1.65 percent from 102,670 units in March.

Its passenger plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) were 105,103 units, up 118.64 percent from 48,072 units in the same month last year and up 1.63 percent from 103,419 units in March.

In April, BYD sold 14,827 NEVs in overseas markets, up 11.38 percent from 13,312 units in March.

The company first announced overseas sales figures for NEVs in July 2022.

In addition to being China's largest NEV company, BYD is also the country's second-largest manufacturer of power batteries.

BYD's installed power and energy storage battery capacity in April was about 9.954 GWh, up 59.47 percent from 6.242 GWh in the same month last year and up 0.64 percent from 8.952 GWh in March.

From January to April, BYD's NEV sales were 762,371 units, up 94.3 percent from 392,371 units in the same period last year.

BYD aims to sell at least 3 million vehicles this year and strives to reach 3.6 million, the company's chairman and president Wang Chuanfu said at an investor conference in late March.

BYD aims to become China's No. 1 automaker by the end of this year, Wang said at the time.

To achieve its goal of selling 3 million NEVs for the year, BYD would need to sell an average of about 280,000 vehicles each month for the next eight months.

As part of its efforts to reach that goal, BYD officially launched the Seagull on April 26 with a starting price of just RMB 73,800, a lower price that is expected to meet the needs of younger people and some families with second cars.

BYD officially launches Seagull to expand its presence in China's EV market