BYD continues to push closer to Tesla when it comes to global electric car sales. To surpass the market leader, BYD employs a radical expansion strategy. An important role in this is played by the neighboring country Mexico, where BYD recently introduced the Seal model.

The Chinese corporation has not yet fought its way to the top of global electric car sales, but the gap to Tesla has steadily narrowed in recent months. This is partly due to BYD's global growth strategy. In the first week of December, BYD also launched the Seal in Mexico. This is already the fifth electric vehicle that BYD is introducing to the Mexican market.

In addition to the Dolphin, introduced in September, customers in Mexico have been able to purchase the Han, Tang, and Yuan Plus models since June.

The electric car Seal, which resembles the Tesla Model 3, is available in two variants: with rear-wheel or all-wheel drive. According to information from "electrek," the rear-wheel drive version is offered for 778,800 Mexican pesos (approximately $44,600 USD), while the all-wheel drive variant is available for 888,800 Mexican pesos (approximately $51,000 USD). The RWD model from BYD has a 150 kW rear motor (about 204 horsepower) and a 61.44 kWh LFP Blade battery, which, according to WLTP, allows for a range of up to 460 kilometers (286 miles).

The AWD variant offers a combined power of 390 kW (about 530 hp) and is equipped with an 82.56 kWh LFP Blade battery, which provides a WLTP range of 520 kilometers (323 miles). Therefore, the BYD model offers an affordable alternative to Tesla's Model 3, which is available in Mexico for a starting price of 881,900 Mexican pesos (about 50,500 US dollars) and provides a range of approximately 638 kilometers.

The all-wheel-drive variant of the Model 3 starts in Mexico at 985,900 Mexican Pesos (approximately 56,500 US dollars), and the performance version is available for at least 1,154,900 Mexican Pesos (approximately 66,100 US dollars).

Mexico, an emerging country whose economy and population have been growing steadily in recent years, plays an important role in BYD's expansion strategy. According to "Statista", Mexico had over 127.5 million inhabitants in 2022, making it the tenth most populous country in the world. The Mexican economy is also expected to continue growing, albeit at a slightly slower pace, in the coming years, according to "Statista".

The growing middle class in Mexico is likely to become an increasingly important target group for electric cars. For BYD, Mexico is also a key market because the company wants to establish a production facility in North America. Analysts, quoted by "electrek," believe that Mexico can also serve as a launching market for electric vehicles in the USA.

BYD is the only Chinese electric car manufacturer that already has a production facility in the United States, a 50,000 square meter electric bus factory in Lancaster, California. However, Tesla could surpass BYD as the company announced in March that it plans to build a Gigafactory in Mexico. Due to construction delays, it is expected to take until 2026 for the first Tesla vehicles to roll out of the Mexican factory.

The battle for the top position in the globally growing electric car market is gaining momentum. While established companies like Ford, General Motors, and Volkswagen are intensifying their efforts in the field of electric vehicles, it is primarily two young companies that are fighting for market leadership: Tesla and BYD.

The two pioneers in the field of electromobility are in a neck-and-neck race. In the third quarter of 2022, Tesla delivered 435,059 electric vehicles worldwide, while BYD sold 431,603 fully electric cars during this time. BYD was able to significantly increase its sales in the past weeks and sold 335,655 electric vehicles in October and November alone. The company achieved a record profit in the third quarter. In China, BYD has already surpassed Tesla in terms of the number of vehicles sold.

In November, Tesla sold 82,432 electric cars in the Middle Kingdom, while BYD is far ahead with 301,378 vehicles sold. However, it should be noted that BYD's number includes all vehicles with alternative propulsion technologies and not just electric cars. If we only consider electric vehicles, Tesla could still be ahead globally this year. According to estimates from "electrek," BYD will sell a total of 1.57 million full-electric cars this year, while Tesla has stated that it will deliver 1.8 million cars by the end of the year. However, if BYD's plug-in hybrid models are included in the statistics, the Chinese car manufacturer from Shenzhen is already ahead of Tesla.