(Image credit: BYD)

After the city of Xi'an in northwest China's Shaanxi province went into lockdown due to the Covid-19 outbreak, production at BYD's local production site was halted. Recently, production at the site has resumed.

Production at the company's local site was affected to some extent by the outbreak in Xi'an in late December. However, as of January 3, 2022, production at the base has largely returned to normal, BYD said in an interaction with investors today.

In December 2021, the company's demand for new energy vehicle (NEV) orders remained strong, maintaining continued growth momentum, BYD said.

Because of the new Covid-19 outbreak attack, Xi'an entered a lockdown starting on December 23, 2021, and everyone is prohibited from going outside in principle, except for core personnel who guarantee the city's operation.

According to a CCTV report on January 5, the Xi'an municipal government said that the total number of Covid cases is showing a downward trend, and the new ones are now found in the quarantined and control areas, and the spread of the outbreak has been effectively curbed.

The Xi'an plant is one of BYD's most important bases, where some versions of the popular sedan Qin, as well as all models of the compact SUV Song series, are produced, according to previous reports in local media.

Iautodaily late last month cited a WeChat status update from BYD sources saying that the original production schedule and the date consumers were expected to receive deliveries would be delayed because of the blockade in Xi'an.

Cailian later quoted BYD sources as saying that the outbreak has had some impact on production at the company's Xi'an campus and that it is actively responding.

BYD, which has operations in Xi'an including passenger cars, commercial vehicles, electronics, rail transportation and power batteries, produced 55,000 vehicles at its Xi'an plant in November, according to Cailian.

"BYD has eight production bases in China, and the Xi'an site will have some impact on production for the month due to that outbreak. But for the whole year, the impact will not be too big," the report said, citing an industry source close to BYD.

BYD sold 93,945 NEVs in December, up 225.7 percent from a year earlier and up 3 percent from 91,219 units in November, the company said earlier this week.