Tesla YoY sales up 27% in July-September quarter, feels heat from BYD's rivalry

Tesla seems to be facing the heat of competition as Chinese auto manufacturer BYD came within a whisker of toppling the US car manufacturer as the world's biggest electric vehicle manufacturer in the just concluded July-September quarter. Bloomberg has reported that BYD sold 431,603 electric cars in the last quarter, which was just 3,456 units short of Tesla's sales of 435,059 units in the same July-September period.

The report claims that the Chinese electric car brand pushed into new markets enhancing its sales volume and market share globally. On the other hand, factory downtime resulted in Tesla's first quarterly delivery shortfall in more than a year in the last quarter. The report further stated that while BYD was able to increase its sales by 23 per cent in the third quarter of this calendar year, compared to the second quarter, Tesla felt the heat from its Chinese competitor with the narrowest gap between the two auto companies' respective sales numbers.

Watch: BYD Atto 3: First Drive Review

The report also revealed that Tesla’s deliveries missed its estimates by around 20,000 units in the April-September period, as the automaker prepared its manufacturing plants to make the updated Model 3 sedan and the yet-to-be-released Cybertruck. Still, the Elon Musk-led auto company affirmed its annual target to sell 18 lakh electric vehicles, while BYD remains on track to sell around 30 lakh vehicles, including both pure electric and hybrid models.

Watch: BYD e6 premium electric MPV: First Drive Review

Speaking about Tesla's sales numbers, while it sold 435,059 electric vehicles in the July-September period, it was significantly up from 343,830 units registered in the corresponding period of 2022. The automaker has been able to increase its production volume significantly over the past several months, which resulted in a rise in delivery numbers. However, its sales dropped by around seven per cent in the last quarter, compared to the April-June period, when it sold 466,140 units globally. This slump in sales has been attributed to the softening demand as well as the automaker's scheduled factory upgrades.