Sales of BYD's main budget models fell less because they have accumulated relatively more orders, analysts said.

BYD announced its new energy vehicle (NEV) sales for January yesterday, and later released model-specific figures showing which of its products are the most popular.

BYD Song family SUVs sold 49,865 units in January, up 122.13 percent year-on-year, but down 28.84 percent from 70,079 units in December.

Song family models were BYD's top sellers in January, contributing 33 percent of the NEV maker's total January sales of 151,341 NEVs.

For the full year of 2022, Song family models sold 481,607 units.

The Yuan family was BYD's second-highest seller in January at 23,231 units, up 170.25 percent year-on-year, but down 21.17 percent from 29,468 units in December. The family of models sold 229,020 units in 2022.

BYD Dolphin sold 17,629 units in January, up 66.28 percent year-on-year but 32.39 percent lower than in December.

The BYD Qin family sold 14,185 units in January, down 46.56 percent year-on-year and 45.87 percent lower than the 26,206 units sold in December.

The BYD Han family sold 12,215 units in January, down 4.42 percent year-on-year and 59.34 percent lower than the 30,043 units sold in December.

The BYD Tang family sold 8,890 units in January, down 1.88 percent year-on-year and down 55.91 percent from December.

BYD Seal sold 6,618 units in January, 56.96 percent lower than the 15,378 units sold in December. The model went on sale on July 29, 2022.

BYD Frigate 07 sales in January were 5,043 units, up 179.39 percent from 1,805 units in December. The model went on sale on December 9, 2022.

BYD Destroyer 05 sales in January were 4,966 units, 18.68 percent lower than the 6,107 units sold in December. The model went on sale on March 17, 2022.

BYD reported yesterday that it sold 151,341 NEVs in January, up 62.44 percent, but down 35.65 percent from December.

The company's NEVs include passenger cars as well as commercial vehicles, and they sold 150,164 units and 1,177 units in January, respectively.

In a research note today, Essence Securities analyst Xu Huixiong's team noted that overall, sales of BYD's Han, Tang, Seal, and Qin series models declined more significantly from December.

The reason behind this may be that consumers' willingness to buy cars is lower during the industry's slow season and that these models have accumulated relatively fewer orders, the team said.

The reason for the smaller declines in sales of BYD's main selling economy models may be the relatively high number of orders accumulated for hot-selling models such as Song Plus DM-i and Dolphin, according to the team.

The company's premium models collectively contributed 26.11 percent of total sales, a decline of 5.18 percentage points from December, probably because the industry is in a slow season, according to these analysts.

In 2023, new high-end vehicles such as Denza N7, Yangwang U8 and U9 will be launched, which are expected to drive the sales growth and contribution of high-end models, according to the team.