Electric-vehicle and hybrid maker BYD’s fourth-quarter sales of passenger battery EVs topped Tesla’s deliveries for the first time. Only about 1.6 million of BYD’s full-year production was pure battery-electric passenger vehicles, less than Tesla’s all-EV fleet of almost 1.85 million in 2023. (The Logic, Financial Times) 

Talking point: CEO Elon Musk said last year that his toughest competition by far is in China. He told The New York Times in November that he sees predictions ranking top global automakers as “Tesla followed by nine Chinese car companies” as credible since the Chinese workforce is “super good” at manufacturing. BYD’s growing dominance comes as the U.S. refuses to subsidize EVs with Chinese parts. While BYD’s passenger cars aren’t widely sold in Canada, the company is influencing the auto ecosystem, adopting the karaoke app made by Montreal-based Stingray in its global car fleet and selling electric buses to organizations like York University.