On January 3rd local time, in response to BYD's sales of pure electric vehicles surpassing Tesla in the fourth quarter of 2023, Tesla CEO Musk responded on social media that Tesla is positioned closer to an AI/robotics company than a car company.
In 2023, BYD sold a total of 3.0244 million new energy vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 62.3%. BYD exceeded its annual sales target of 3 million vehicles. The total sales of pure electric vehicles in the fourth quarter were 526409, while Tesla delivered 484507 vehicles in the fourth quarter of 2023. This means that BYD officially surpassed Tesla to become the world's largest pure electric vehicle manufacturer in the fourth quarter of 2023.
In fact, Musk has claimed more than once that Tesla is an AI+robotics company, not just an automotive company.
Recently, Tesla showcased the latest version of Optimus II, the Optimus Prime robot. In a newly released video, the second generation humanoid robots appear to have greater flexibility than the previous generation - including more elegant walking postures and greater freedom of hands, and can even be used to perform delicate tasks such as cooking eggs. Musk previously claimed that the potential of humanoid robots is more important than Tesla's electric vehicle business.