BYD takes Tesla’s crown as top selling EV car brand

Happy New Year Superheroes!

Global markets ended last year with a bang but it looks like the first trading week of 2024 is starting off to be a bit… meh? Major indices are set to end the week in red – is it because investors are taking profits? 

Closer to home, the ASX was thiiisss close to a new record high on Tuesday. Let’s hope it gets there sometime this year.

Let’s get on to it.

Tesla records its best quarter but loses top spot 

While Tesla is generally considered the biggest EV company in the world, it looks like Elon Musk’s company is kicking off 2024 in second place – at least when it comes to EV sales figures in Q4 2023. 

Rather, BYD (which stands for “Build Your Dreams”), a Chinese EV manufacturer, swooped in at the last minute to take the top spot for EV deliveries.

This comes despite the quarter being Tesla’s best one yet.

🎯 The numbers 

Tesla recorded deliveries of 484,000 cars last quarter, meeting its targets and beating market estimates. 

Unfortunately for the US-based EV car maker, it falls a little bit short of BYD’s 526,000 sales over the same three-month period. The latter’s win is mainly attributed to car buyers looking for cheaper EV models amidst higher interest rates.

While Tesla lost this quarter, it still retains its top spot for the year, delivering 1.8 million vehicles in 2023. In comparison, BYD delivered 1.6 million EVs (although it also sold a further 1.4 million plug-in hybrids).

🔋 An electrifying rivalry

BYD is not currently listed in the U.S. however it has caught investor attention thanks to its backing from Berkshire Hathaway.

2023 was a competitive year for the sector as EV manufacturers all over the world slashed prices in a bid to grow market share.

Rivian also reported last quarter’s numbers on Tuesday but heavily missed analyst expectations. Its share price is down 17% this week following the news. 

Analysts expect price cuts to continue across the industry in the coming months especially as eligibility for tax credits continues to tighten.

Did you know?

There are some ETFs on the ASX that have historically paid out distributions every month! 💰

Check them out here.

🔦  Some other things we’re shining the Spotlight on:

ETF PAYDAY: Some major ETF fund managers are paying distributions out this month. Vanguard and Betashares investors will be seeing theirs hit their Superhero wallet on the 18th while iShares investors will be getting theirs on the 15th.

RELENTLESS IRON ORE: Iron ore has continued its strong price rally through the new year to now hover at around US$145/t. This has completely upended expectations where the resource was expected to fall to US$105/t by September 2023 and US$60/t one year later.

BARCLAYS CUTS APPLE: Apple’s stock is down over 6% this week following Barclays downgrading the company to an equivalent of a sell. The decision came amidst concerns around weakening demand for Apple’s products.

INTEL SPIN-OFF?: Intel, in partnership with DigitalBridge (NYSE:DBRG), announced the formation of a new independent private company called Articul8 AI that will provide enterprise customers a full-stack generative artificial intelligence software platform.

That’s all for this week’s Spotlight! 

Have you thought about your financial resolutions for 2024? Ours is to make Spotlight even more helpful to you. 💙

Thanks for reading!