Cathie Wood Flags BYD's 20% Delivery-to-Registrations Gap Amid Concerns Over Zero-Mileage Used Car Sales Practices
Ark Invest’s Cathie Wood is raising questions over an unusual discrepancy in Chinese automaker BYD Company Ltd.'s (OTC:BYDDF) reported delivery data, citing a roughly 20% gap between the company's vehicle deliveries and corresponding registration figures.
What Happened: On Sunday, Wood, who is a prominent Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) investor, posted on X with just a “?” while quoting a post by Akaash TK, a research associate at Ark. In his post, Akaash highlighted significant discrepancies in the sales and delivery figures being cited by the Chinese EV giant, with a gap that goes as high as 20%.
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“A 20% gap between BYD’s delivery numbers and likely registrations from Jan–Apr. Inventory build or something else?” he asks, referring to the significant differences between the number of vehicles that the company has claimed to have delivered and those that have been registered from January through April 2025.
Akaash questions whether this is an inventory build, referring to a potential rise in inventory in anticipation of a spike in demand, or something else altogether.
BYD did not immediately respond to Benzinga's request for comment.
Why It Matters: This comes amid growing concerns regarding “Zero Mile” used cars in Chinese markets, a practice wherein cars with zero mileage are sold as used cars, primarily to boost sales and clear inventory.
A few weeks ago, this prompted Chinese regulators to meet with the country’s automakers, including BYD, to address these concerns.
China’s Commerce Ministry was prompted to act following Great Wall Motor Company’s (OTC:GWLLF) Chairman Wei Jianjun’s comments on the matter in recent weeks.
Jianjun said that at least 3,000 to 4,000 vendors on Chinese used car markets were selling such brand new cars, with no mileage, as used cars at discounted prices, according to a report by Reuters.
Price Action: Shares of BYD were down 3.07% on Friday, trading at $16.86 per share in the OTC markets.
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