Buffett's 'Tesla' sells more electric cars than Nio and Xpeng combined

• BYD (SZ: 002594), which is backed by US billionaire Warren Buffett, has announced that sales of electric cars reached 16,301 units last month.
• This figure is more than double the Nio (NYSE: NIO) March deliveries of 7,257 cars.
• Xpeng (NYSE: XPEV) also delivered fewer vehicles, with 5,102 units last month.

Chinese automaker BYD sold in March more than the sum of the units delivered by its main rivals, Nio and Xpeng, which still exceed analysts' expectations, CNBC reports.

In the new energy vehicle category, which includes hybrid and pure electric cars, BYD sold more than 23,000 units in March, bringing the total in the first quarter to 53,380 cars.

These electric vehicle sales figures come as China's automotive market is recovering from the coronavirus pandemic.

New motor vehicle registrations in the first quarter of this year rose to a record 9.66 million, according to the Chinese Ministry of Public Security. New energy vehicles accounted for 466,000, or just over 6% of newly registered cars, the data showed.

The percentage of renewable energy cars nationwide that are purely electric was 81.5% in the first quarter, roughly the same figure as in 2020, according to Public Safety data.

However, in the global market context, China's electric car manufacturers still have a long way to go.

Electric car market leader Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) reported last week that it delivered 184,800 cars worldwide in the first quarter. While the manufacturer did not disclose figures for China, the company said in a statement: "We are encouraged by the strong reception of the Model Y in China and are progressing rapidly towards full production capacity."

Elon Musk's firm began deliveries of its China-made Model Y last January. This car was the third best-selling renewable energy vehicle in China in February, according to the China Passenger Car Association.

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