Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Inc, who had previously laughed at Warren Buffett-backed Chinese EV-maker, BYD Company, has now commended their vehicles.
On Friday, Musk took to Twitter to respond to an old clip posted by Tesla Owners Silicon Valley Club, where he was seen laughing as a journalist asked him about BYD trying to compete with Tesla. After a brief chuckle, Musk had replied, “Have you seen their cars?” and laughed again. When the journalist asked if he didn’t see them as a competitor “at all,” he simply replied with a “No.”
However, Musk’s opinion of BYD’s cars has changed drastically since then. “That was many years ago. Their cars are highly competitive these days,” he wrote in his reply to the tweet.
Musk’s Tesla has faced rising pressure from growing competitors in the EV market, including BYD, in recent years. According to recent sales figures, BYD has shown staggering growth in EV sales, officially making them the world’s second-biggest electric car manufacturer, rapidly catching up with Tesla.
Meanwhile, earlier this week, Ford Motor Co CEO, Jim Farley, responded to a question on whether catching up with Tesla involves Ford growing returns from its EV business or Tesla facing margin pressure. Farley said, “Both are going to happen.”
