BYD has raised its annual sales target to 4 million units, Morgan Stanley analyst Tim Hsiao said in a research note citing comments from the NEV maker's management.

BYD (HKG: 1211, OTCMKTS: BYDDY) has raised its sales target for the whole of this year, following a strong performance from its plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) models.

BYD has increased its annual sales target to 4 million units, Morgan Stanley auto analyst Tim Hsiao said in a research note yesterday, citing comments from BYD's management. That compares with the company's previous estimate of about 3.6 million units.

While BYD did not provide profitability guidance, its management believes that volume and margin upside in the second half of 2024 will largely hinge on DM 5.0 models, several of which, including the Qin L and Seal 06 DM-i, have order backlogs that already exceed capacity, according to Hsiao.

BYD ceased production and sales of cars powered entirely by internal combustion engines in March 2022, switching to focus on producing PHEVs and battery electric vehicles (BEVs).

The NEV maker sold a record 373,083 NEVs in August, surpassing July's previous record of 342,383 units, according to data it released on September 1.

In the January-August period, BYD sold 2,328,449 NEVs, up 29.92 percent year-on-year.

The 4 million-unit target means BYD will need to sell an average of about 420,000 vehicles per month in the last four months of 2024.

So far this year, BEV sales in China have been weak, while PHEV sales have grown strongly.

China's passenger NEVs sold a record 1,027,000 units at retail in August, the first time in history that they have exceeded 1 million, data released yesterday by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) showed.

Retail sales of PHEVs in August were 444,000 units, the third consecutive month of record highs, up 96.9 percent year-on-year and up 12.2 percent from July.

Retail sales of BEVs were 583,000 units in August, which was up 18.5 percent year-on-year and 20.8 percent from July.

For BYD, there is a similar scenario.

It sold 222,384 passenger PHEVs in August, its sixth consecutive record high since March. That's up 73.12 percent year-on-year and up 5.5 percent from July.

By comparison, BYD sold 148,470 passenger BEVs in August, up just 1.95 percent year-on-year and up 14.21 percent from July.

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