BYD can officially lay claim to being the global leader in new energy vehicles (NEVs) on the back of surging sales this year.

In the first six months of the year, BYD sold 641,350 NEVs, a classification of vehicle used exclusively in China that encompasses EVs, PHEVs, and hydrogen vehicles. This represents a 314.9 per cent year-on-year increase and places the Chinese car manufacturer ahead of Tesla which sold 564,000 EVs in the first half of the year, itself a significant 46 per cent increase over the same period in 2021.

Admittedly, it’s not really a fair comparison between BYD and Tesla since the former’s sales figures don’t consist solely of EVs.

Read More: BYD Is China’s Second Best-Selling Carmaker, Despite Only Selling PHEVs And EVs

BYD recently revealed in an investor conference call that it is on track to sell between 1.1 million and 1.2 million NEVs this year, noting that this figure will likely consist of 600,000 EVs and between 500,000 and 600,000 PHEVs. June proved to be a particularly strong month for the car manufacturer as it sold no less than 134,036 NEVs, representing a year-on-year increase of 224 per cent. It produced 134,771 NEVs during the course of the month.

Car News China reports that the BYD Song was the automaker’s best-selling model in June, with 32,077 units finding new homes. It was followed by the BYD Qin with 26,623 sales, the BYD Han with 25,439 sales, BYD Yuan that sold 19,731 units, the BYD Dolphin with 10,376 sales, and the BYD Tang that shifted 8,134 units.