Chinese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer BYD Company Limited set a new monthly record in terms of global plug-in car sales, but the rate of its year-over-year growth seems to be on the decline. In its latest report, BYD revealed that it sold 261,105 passenger plug-in cars (including 11,146 units of the Denza premium EVs) in July this year, up 61 per cent from the corresponding month of last year. While the rate of growth seems to be very strong, it is the lowest since late 2020.

As usual, the overwhelming majority of BYD electric car sales were in the company’s home market of China, while exports stood for strong percentage of the total sales. The new figure sets a new record in terms of monthly sales. In fact, that’s an all-time record and the highest result in China – the world’s largest car market. The previous highest record for BYD was 251,685 units, achieved in June this year.

The most interesting thing about the monthly results is that the segment of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) once again outshined plug-in hybrid vehicle segment (PHEVs). The company sold more than 134,700 units of BEVs and nearly 126,300 units of PHEVs.

More precisely, the Chinese automaker sold 134,783 BEVs, (up 66 per cent year-over-year) and 126,322 PHEVs (up 56 per cent year-over-year). Thus, the company’s total electric car sales last month settled at 261,105 units (up 61 per cent year-over-year).

When it comes to commercial electric vehicles, the automaker sold 1,056 units last month. Out of the total number, nearly 18,169 plug-in vehicles were exported by BYD to foreign markets.

During the January through July period, BYD sold more than 1.5 million passenger plug-in electric cars, up 89 per cent year-over-year. Year to date, BYD sold 751,593 BEVs (up 86 per cent year-over-year) and 757,673 PHEVs (up 91 per cent year-over-year). The total number of electric vehicles sold by the company (1,509,266 units) represents a year-over-year jump of 89 per cent.

The Song and Qin families emerged as the top two model families in BYD's EV lineup. The Song family accounted for 51,258 units (BEV + PHEV), while the Qin family accounted for 44,695 units (BEV + PHEV). The BYD Dolphin model surfaced as the third best stand-alone all-electric model (31,950 units).

For reference, the Chinese automaker sold more than 1.85 million plug-in electric vehicles in the twelve months of 2022. The cumulative number of BYD-branded plug-in electric vehicles is now over 4.8 million units.