Workers work on the assembly line at a factory of vehicle manufacturer BYD Auto in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Feb. 25, 2020.(Photo: Xinhua)

 
China's auto giant BYD has sold 537,164 units of new energy vehicles in the third quarter of this year, surpassing Tesla by nearly 200,000 vehicles and maintaining its position  as the world's biggest electric vehicle producer by sales.

According to data newly released by Tesla and BYD on Monday evening, Tesla's global sales were 343,830 vehicles in the third quarter, a year-on-year increase of 3 percent, which was lower than market expectations. Meanwhile, sales volume of BYD's new energy passenger vehicles was 537,164 units, a year-on-year jump of 187.01 percent.

In September alone, BYD's new energy vehicle sales reached 201,259 units, compared with 71,099 units in the same period last year, a year-on-year surge of 249.56 percent, according to a filing it published on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Monday.

BYD has for the first time dethroned Elon Musk's Tesla as the world's biggest electric vehicle producer by sales in the first half of the year, with global sales of 641,000 vehicles versus the 564,000 units sold by Tesla.

The third quarter data, which showed a widened gap, demonstrated BYD has further consolidated its position as the world's biggest electric vehicle producer by sales, industry observers said. They noted that BYD's momentum also underscores China's strengthening position in renewable energy, boasting advantages across much of the supply chain for electric vehicles, batteries, wind as well as solar energy.

From January to August, China's global market share of new energy passenger vehicles has increased to 68 percent, which was mainly driven by the strong demand for new energy in China, Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA), said in a post published on his WeChat account on Sunday.

"In the face of the strong market demand, we asked some of our workers to come back earlier from the National Day holidays to ramp up for customers' orders," owner of an auto parts supplier in Nantong, East China's Jiangsu Province, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

The owner, who asked to remain anonymous, said the company mainly provides car parts for new energy carmakers in Shanghai. "We have been working at full capacity since the coronavirus in Shanghai receded in June, orders have piled up until to the end of the year."

At the same time, Chinese carmakers are also actively building vehicle production plants overseas to expand capacity and reduce transportation cost. BYD, for example, said on September 8 that it would build its first overseas passenger car plant in Thailand, wholly invested by the company.

On September 16, Chinese electric-vehicle maker NIO celebrated the shipment of its first battery swap station from Biatorbagy, Hungary, to Germany, produced by NIO Power Europe, the company's first overseas plant.