BYD February vehicle sales fall at steepest pace since pandemic

BEIJING, March 1 (Reuters) - Chinese electric ‌vehicle maker ​BYD recorded ​the biggest fall in global sales in six years last month against a backdrop of fierce competition in the world's largest ‌auto market.

BYD's February sales dropped 41.1% from a year earlier, the ⁠sixth consecutive month of decline, according to a stock market filing on Sunday. The fall ‌last month was the biggest ‌since February 2020 when the economy was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Car sales and other economic indicators tend to show big swings in the ​first two months due to the timing of Lunar New Year, which could be particularly notable this year as China extended the annual holiday ⁠to a record-breaking nine days.

But BYD's sales downtrend goes beyond seasonal factors. Its sales were down 35.8% year-on-year ​globally in the first two months, the biggest drop during the period since 2020.

While its overseas shipments maintained robust growth ​from the year before, at 100,600 vehicles ‌in February, sales in the home market fell 65% to 89,590 vehicles, worsening from a 53.2% drop in January when ⁠Geely unseated BYD as the top carmaker in China.

To fend off competition, BYD has joined other domestic and foreign peers in launching a seven-year low-interest financing plan that was ⁠first introduced by Tesla in January.

Under pressure from a narrowing technology gap, BYD is expected ​to roll out major tech innovations later this month.

Bruising competition has prompted Chinese regulators to introduce new pricing rules and tighten oversight of new cars exported as used vehicles, ‌as part of efforts to shift the auto sector's focus to value-based competition.

The biggest Chinese rival to Tesla has also ‌led a push into overseas markets to offset domestic challenges.

BYD and Geely are ⁠among the finalists bidding to buy ‌a Nissan-Mercedes-Benz plant in ​Mexico, Reuters reported last month.

(Reporting by Reporting by Qiaoyi Li, Xiuhao Chen, Zhang Yan and Brenda GohEditing by David Goodman and ‌Christina Fincher)

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