Old school entrepreneurs have lucrative business ideas in abundance, successfully competing with new moguls. Legendary American billionaire Warren Buffett is catching up with Elon Musk in China’s market of electric cars. Sales of Tesla electric vehicles manufactured in China tumbled considerably in April. At the same time, BYD Co Ltd, where Warren Buffett’s investment fund holds a big stake, is pumping up sales being hot on the heels of its American rival. Last month, Tesla sold 25,845 cars assembled at the facility in China, 27% lower than in March. Remarkably, BYD Co Ltd. headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, managed to sell two times as many electric cars as its Tesla competitor in March. BYD sales stood at 25,450 cars in April. As a result, the investment made by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway in 2008 has already yielded a fat profit of a few thousand per cent.
Weak Tesla sales made CEO Elon Musk suspend his plans to expand production capacities in Shanghai and found a global export hub there. Apart from downbeat sales, Elon Musk is revising his plans amid escalating tensions between the US and China. Experts say that poor Tesla sales come as a result of waning demand for full-electric and hybrid cars in China. Demand was 12% down in April. Chinese consumers are cautious to buy Tesla cars in light of reports in Chinese media about security faults in Tesla vehicles.
