BYD's sales in 2011 just under 449000 units

Gasgoo.com (Shanghai January 20) - BYD sold 448,500 vehicles in 2011, Xinhua reported today, quoting the manufacturer's latest performance report. The figure is far less than the 520,000 vehicles the manufacturer sold the previous year, and comes after a year of dealership difficulties and controversial staff cuts for BYD.

Sales of key BYD models, such as the F6 (pictured above), F3 and F0 (pictured below) all fell dramatically in 2011. Among them, China Association of Automobile Manufacturers statistics show that annual sales for the F3 fell from 212,438 units in 2010 to just 12,720 units last year. F0 sales also fell by close to 50 percent, while only a total of 12,798 F6s were sold last year, compared with 51,651 F6s sold in 2010.

On a more positive note, however, sales of BYD's first SUV, the S6, have been strong since its market debut last April, with a total of 45,186 sold by the end of the year. The new G6, which also made its debut in 2011, has also performed strongly, while a total 28,922 L3s were sold last year.

BYD has several new models in the works for 2012, including the redesigned F3 and F6. The manufacturer expects overall sales in 2012 to reach 500,000 units.