BYD Dolphin Tops 1 Million Sales

• The Dolphin becomes BYD’s third electric car to reach one million global sales.
• It’s one of six other EVs to join this elite sales club, which includes Wuling and Tesla.
• BYD is facing stiff competition in China, which is why it wants to rapidly expand its European presence and sales.

Reaching one million sales is an achievement for any car, but it’s even more impressive for a pure electric vehicle. Only a handful of models have achieved this feat, the latest being the BYD Dolphin, the subcompact EV that’s been on sale in China since 2021.

The Dolphin is the first car in BYD’s now highly successful Ocean series of models (which includes the Seal) and the secret to its success is affordability. It starts at 99,800 yuan or $14,100 in base trim, which gets you 94 horsepower and a 45-kilowatt-hour LFP battery quoted at 261 miles (420 km) CLTC.

It’s probably worth spending 129,800 yuan or $18,400 on the more powerful 201 hp version with a larger 60.5 kWh battery that boosts range to 323 miles (520 km). This higher variant has an acceleration time to 62 mph (100 km/h) of 7 seconds and can charge at a maximum rate of 150 kilowatts.

The Dolphin isn’t popular just in China, where you see these cars everywhere. It’s also on sale in many other Asian markets, as well as several big European markets, where only the top variant is offered. In Germany, it starts at €34,640 ($40,400) before any incentives apply and it gets a WLTP range of 265 miles (427 km).

BYD faces increased competition at home as the much-talked-about price wars drag on in China, even as the government tries to crack down. It’s looking to rapidly expand its presence abroad and its European expansion is now in full swing with plans to double its presence on the continent by the end of 2026, according to Reuters.

It’s also planning to create a second production facility to supply Europe, which is expected to be built in Turkey. The first one is currently being constructed in Hungary and it’s a gigantic complex that seemed to stretch for miles when I passed it on a nearby highway earlier this year. That factory has a projected maximum capacity of 300,000 cars annually, with all the vehicles built there being destined for Europe.

The Dolphin isn’t the only BYD to pass one million sales. The automaker has two more vehicles that have hit that milestone: the Atto 3 (also known as the Yuan Plus in China) launched in 2022 and the Seagull (known as the Dolphin Surf in Europe), which debuted in 2023.

The only other Chinese manufacturer with a model selling more than one million is SAIC-owned Wuling Motors, whose Mini EV has sold more than 1.8 million units, surpassing the one million mark in 2023. Tesla also has vehicles that have sold more than one million units. Both the Model 3 and Model Y are in this elite club, and the Model 3 actually became the world’s first million-sales EV in June 2021.