Is BYD what Tesla wants to be?
For 30 years, the company has demonstrated exactly what many consider the DNA of Tesla: vision, courage and relentless execution. There is signal in this track record.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article is not and should not be construed as investment advice. This is my investing journey and I simply share what I do and why I do that for educational and entertainment purposes.
TLDR Summary
Elon Musk has the reputation of not only seeing where the future is headed, but actually forcing his preferred outcomes into existence. First with electric vehicles and reusable rockets and now with AI and even politics. But lately he is talking more than he is actually doing. Tesla’s existing business is stagnant and promised product launches seem to rarely make it from the future to the present.
At the same time, one of his fiercest competitors is killing it silently. BYD is now selling 4 million EVs per year, more than twice as much as Tesla. With 1.8 million pure BEVs they are even outselling Tesla in their core product.
The story behind this massive growth is even more compelling than the numbers themselves. For 30 years, BYD has demonstrated exactly what many consider the DNA of Tesla: vision, courage and relentless execution.
Wang Chuanfu founded this company 30 years ago and has demonstrated remarkable vision and execution ever since. He started the company as a battery manufacturer, primarily for cell phones. But he quickly saw the potential of Lithium-Ion batteries and that these would eventually launch us into the EV age once costs are driven down sufficiently.
So BYD made a bold bet that took almost two decades to start paying off. Today, they are not only the largest EV manufacturer, but the 6th largest vehicle manufacturer overall and it seems only a question of time until they become number one. Several information technology companies have tried to conquer the automotive space. As of today, BYD is the only one who has managed to do so. Therein lies signal that this company can become much more in the future.