BYD shares fall as stalling sales put annual target in question

[HONG KONG] BYD shares fell in Hong Kong trading on Monday (Aug 4), as sputtering monthly sales growth raised doubts about whether the Chinese electric-vehicle (EV) maker will meet its annual target.

The stock fell as much as 4.2 per cent in early trading, taking its decline from a May peak to around 28 per cent. Sales of the Shenzhen-based auto giant barely grew last month. The world’s biggest EV seller delivered 344,296 vehicles in July, it said on Friday. That’s up 0.6 per cent from a year earlier, but down 10 per cent from June. BYD’s overseas sales also fell 10 per cent compared to June to 80,737 units.

While the slowdown is not unexpected given China new car sales are typically weak in the summer, BYD faces headwinds in hitting its annual goal of 5.5 million units. Chinese authorities have stepped up scrutiny on the nation’s auto sector, pledging to crack down on the heavy discounts that have fuelled a price war.

Having sold 2.5 million units to July, the maker of the electric Seagull hatchback now needs to deliver on average roughly 602,000 vehicles a month for the rest of the year to reach its target. The most vehicles BYD has ever sold in a single month was just shy of 515,000 last December.

Most rivals are showing signs of resilient demand. Geely Automobile Holdings sold 237,717 cars in July, its highest since November. Meanwhile, Stellantis-partner Leapmotor and Xpeng achieved new monthly records, delivering 50,129 and 36,717 vehicles respectively.

Fellow upstart Xiaomi also reported record deliveries of more than 30,000 units. In contrast, Li Auto’s 30,731 units were down about 40 per cent from a year earlier. Li Auto shares fell as much as 2.6 per cent in Hong Kong trading on Monday.

China’s Passenger Car Association last week said that retail passenger vehicle sales in July were estimated to grow 7.6 per cent from a year earlier, though would be down 11 per cent from June.

Nio continued to struggle as it posted a 16 per cent month-on-month fall in sales, recording its smallest sales volume since March. Nio’s shares jumped 8.6 per cent on Friday, after the launch of its Onvo L90 model which analysts see as attractive in its pricing and offering. BLOOMBERG