BYD's strength can no longer be hidden. It leads the country in sales, revenue, and net profit.

More importantly, Wang Chuanfu has created a miracle by developing BYD into the world's third-largest automaker.

1. BYD achieves three firsts

In August this year, BYD sold 373,000 vehicles, setting a new sales record. In the same period, SAIC Motor only sold 258,000 vehicles, far surpassed by BYD by over 100,000 vehicles.

It is worth noting that this is the third consecutive month that BYD has surpassed SAIC Motor in sales.

In the first eight months of this year, SAIC Motor sold a cumulative total of 2.336 million vehicles, while BYD sold 2.328 million vehicles, with a gap of only 8,000 vehicles.

It is foreseeable that BYD's cumulative sales this year will surely surpass SAIC Motor. The throne of China's largest automaker, which SAIC Motor has monopolized for 18 years, is about to be taken by BYD.

Apart from sales, BYD has also surpassed SAIC Motor in revenue and net profit.

The financial report for the first half of this year shows that BYD's revenue reached 301.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15.76%, while SAIC Motor's revenue was 284.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 12.82%. In terms of total revenue, BYD surpassed SAIC Motor for the first time, ranking first in China's automotive industry.

During the same period, BYD's net profit surged by 115% to 16.6 billion yuan, while SAIC Motor's net profit declined by 6.45% to 6.628 billion yuan, less than half of BYD's.

Meanwhile, BYD's net profit far exceeds that of Geely, Great Wall Motor, and others, ranking first in the list of automakers' net profit rankings.

2. Becoming the world's third-largest automaker

What's even more surprising is that BYD is not only dominant in China but also a formidable player in the global automotive industry, a force that cannot be ignored by large multinational automakers in Europe, America, Japan, and South Korea.

In 2023, BYD sold a staggering 3.02 million vehicles, ranking among the world's top ten automakers and surpassing Suzuki to take the ninth spot.

Entering 2024, BYD continues to ride the wave of success, with its ranking continuing to climb.

Data shows that in July this year, BYD sold 315,600 vehicles, surpassing international giants such as Honda, Ford, and Hyundai, jumping to third place globally, behind only Toyota and Volkswagen, achieving a breakthrough in the global market.

Research data predicts that BYD's sales will reach 5.87 million vehicles in 2025, second only to Volkswagen's 7.05 million and Toyota's 6.19 million, ranking third in the global automakers' annual sales rankings.

Based on BYD's current surge in sales, it may climb to the throne of the world's third-largest automaker ahead of schedule in terms of sales.

In fact, the capital market has long been bullish on BYD, and its market value jumped to third place in 2022 and has remained there since.

As of September 9 this year, BYD's market value stands at a whopping $96.9 billion, second only to Tesla and Toyota.

3. Uncovering the secret to Wang Chuanfu's success

The reason why BYD has reached unprecedented heights among Chinese automakers is closely related to its founder, Wang Chuanfu.

Apart from his forward-looking strategic planning, Wang Chuanfu, who has an engineering background, has instilled a technology-driven mindset into BYD. Over the past two decades of automobile manufacturing, BYD has attached great importance to R&D investment.

In the past 14 years, BYD has invested more in R&D than its net profit in 13 of those years, sometimes even several times the net profit during the same period.

Entrepreneurs who only pursue immediate interests and automakers that do not value long-term strategies simply cannot achieve this.

Financial reports show that in the first half of this year, BYD's R&D investment surged by 42% to reach 20.18 billion yuan, setting a new record high and surpassing all other automakers in R&D investment rankings, being 1.3 times that of Tesla, 2.2 times that of SAIC Motor, 3.1 times that of Great Wall Motor, 3.3 times that of Li Auto, and 4.4 times that of Geely.

In other words, BYD spends up to 110 million yuan per day on R&D. BYD also ranks first in the list of R&D investment among A-share listed companies.

Many wealthy state-owned enterprises do not invest as much in R&D as BYD.

To date, BYD's cumulative R&D investment has reached a staggering 150 billion yuan.

According to Wind data, among over 5,300 A-share listed companies, BYD ranks first in R&D investment, truly deserving the title of "King of R&D" in the A-share market.

BYD, which adheres to independent innovation, boasts a strong R&D gene and an engineer culture. Currently, BYD employs over 100,000 engineers.

Among them, the intelligent team consists of over 5,000 people, with an average monthly salary of approximately 200,000 yuan, resulting in a monthly payroll expenditure of 1 billion yuan.

The stars do not deceive those who travel the road. It is precisely because BYD values core technologies and invests heavily in R&D that it has stood out on the Chinese and global automotive stages, becoming the spotlight of attention.