saw a drop in NEV sales in February as the New Year holiday brought disruptions.

China's largest new energy vehicle (NEV) maker BYD (HKG: 1211, OTCMKTS: BYDDY) saw a drop in sales last month, as the New Year holiday brought disruptions.

BYD sold 122,311 NEVs in February, down 36.84 percent year-on-year and down 39.30 percent from January, according to an Hong Kong Stock Exchange announcement today.

BYD ceased production and sales of vehicles powered entirely by internal combustion engines in March 2022, switching to a focus on the production of plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) and battery electric vehicles (BEVs).

BYD's NEVs include passenger cars as well as commercial vehicles, with passenger NEVs selling 121,748 units in February, a decrease of 36.48 percent year-on-year and down 39.43 percent from January.

BYD's commercial NEVs sold 563 units in February, down 71.72 percent year-on-year while up 18.78 percent from January.

Among passenger NEVs, BEVs sold 54,908 units in February, down 39.42 percent year-on-year and down 47.86 percent from January.

BYD sold 66,840 units of passenger PHEVs in February, down 33.84 percent year-on-year and down 30.17 percent from January.

In February, BYD sold 23,291 vehicles in overseas markets, ending a streak of seven consecutive months of record sales. This represents a 55.25 percent year-on-year increase, but a 35.61 percent decrease from January.

BYD first reported its overseas sales figures for NEVs in 2022 July.

In addition to being China's largest NEV company, BYD is also China's second-largest power battery maker.

BYD's installed base of power and energy storage batteries amounted to about 6.665 GWh in February, a decrease of 25.55 percent year-on-year and down 41.06 percent from January.

BYD hasn't announced its sales target for 2024, though local media reported that the company's initial plan is to sell 4 million units.

For the full year of 2023, BYD sold 3,024,417 NEVs, reaching its target of 3 million units, a 62.3 percent increase year-on-year.

BYD is set to announce a target of 4 million units for 2024, and its production base could have a total capacity of 4.2 million, local media outlet 36kr said in a February 26 report.

BYD gave its suppliers a sales forecast of 4.2 million, with 2 million units to be BEVs and another 2.2 million to be PHEVs, according to the report.

BYD launches revamped Han and Tang models with significantly lower prices