Elon Musk paid respects to a Tesla rival yesterday. But it surely was in response to a 2011 video of him laughing at its car high quality.
The Tesla CEO responded Friday to a Bloomberg interview by which he derided China’s BYD. Because the interviewer mentions the Chinese language firm as a competitor and notes Berkshire Hathaway’s 10% stake, Musk can’t cease laughing. When requested why he’s chortling, he responds, “Have you ever seen their automotive?” He then admits he doesn’t see BYD as a competitor.
He’s not laughing.
What do you consider BYD?
Elon Musk begins laughing… have you ever seen their automobiles ?
pic.twitter.com/aSvcqmOAo8— Tesla House owners Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) Could 27, 2023
In April, BYD reported that its income had surged over 400% within the first quarter from a yr earlier, and that its car gross sales had almost doubled to 550,000 globally within the quarter. The EV maker has ousted Volkswagen because the best-selling model amongst automakers in China—a key marketplace for Tesla—and it’s pushing into Europe, Latin America, and Asian markets. It’s additionally dominating Tesla in China.
“That was a few years in the past,” Musk mentioned of the video clip, posted by Tesla House owners Silicon Valley. “Their automobiles are extremely aggressive today.
Others agree.
“BYD may be very, very robust,” Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume mentioned in Shanghai final month.
And this week, Ford CEO Jim Farley talked about BYD whereas explaining that Ford’s most important EV rivals are Chinese language corporations, not GM or Toyota. “The Chinese language are going to be the powerhouse,” he mentioned on the Morgan Stanley Sustainable Finance Summit.
“BYD is a lot forward of Tesla in China, it’s virtually ridiculous,” Berkshire Hathaway vice chairman Charlie Munger mentioned earlier this yr. Warren Buffett’s right-hand man added, “I’ve by no means helped do something at Berkshire that was nearly as good as BYD.” Munger was behind the conglomerate’s choice to spend money on the fledgling Chinese language carmaker in 2008.
That very same yr, Musk had lunch with Munger, saying Berkshire Hathaway ought to spend money on Tesla. Munger declined, and certainly Berkshire has largely steered away from automakers over the a long time.
“Charlie and I for lengthy have felt that the auto trade is simply too robust,” Buffett defined earlier this month at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual convention. However they positioned a guess on BYD.
Within the first quarter, BYD had almost 40% of the market amongst new vitality car makers in China, in accordance with Bloomberg, in comparison with simply over 10% for Telsa, a distant second. Tesla earlier this yr initiated a value struggle towards BYD in China.
Musk was laughing about BYD three years after Munger’s funding.
“I don’t suppose they’ve an amazing product,” Musk continues in a longer model of the 2011 Bloomberg interview posted on YouTube. “I don’t suppose it’s notably enticing. The know-how just isn’t very robust. And BYD as an organization has fairly extreme issues of their house turf in China. So I believe their focus is, and rightly needs to be, on ensuring they don’t die in China.”
It’s secure to say that BYD didn’t die.