BYD Expands on Two Fronts – But the Stock Is Stuck Near Its Floor

Chinese EV giant BYD lands major Latin American export deals from its Brazilian plant, while European factory delays and stock weakness test its localization strategy.

BYD’s bet on local production is already paying off in Latin America. The Chinese electric-vehicle giant has secured export orders for 100,000 vehicles from its Brazilian factory in Camaçari, with 50,000 each earmarked for Argentina and Mexico. Executive Vice President Stella Li confirmed the milestone as the company pushes to circumvent trade barriers and cut logistics costs through regional manufacturing.

The Brazil plant, which currently assembles plug-in hybrids and pure EVs including the Dolphin Mini and Song Pro, has an annual capacity of 150,000 units. BYD plans to scale that up to 600,000 vehicles and reach a local content ratio of 50% by early 2027. The strategy is more than growth ambition – it’s a defensive move against tariffs and supply-chain friction.

In Europe, the timetable for BYD’s first in-house factory has slipped. The site in Hungary will now begin production in the fourth quarter of 2026, roughly a year later than initially planned. That delay has added urgency to the search for a second European plant, with BYD actively looking in Southern Europe and preferring to acquire an existing facility rather than build from scratch. Spain is under consideration, while a previously mooted project in Turkey has been shelved.

The company is also refining its battery roadmap. The third-generation sodium-ion platform (NFPP) will focus on stationary energy storage rather than passenger cars, with a cost target of around 0.3 yuan per watt-hour by 2027. The 189-Ah cell architecture is designed for large-scale grid installations, while BYD’s Blade Battery remains the core technology for its EVs.

All this expansion activity has done little for the share price. BYD’s stock trades at 9.44 euros, just a whisker above its 52-week low of 9.25 euros. It has shed roughly 14% since the start of the year and sits more than 13% below its 200-day moving average. The relative strength index reads 32.9, hovering near the conventional oversold threshold of 30. The technical picture remains clearly negative.

Yet the underlying business is gathering momentum. BYD’s European sales surged 270% last year, and the company has already moved more than 100,000 units globally this year – double the volume of the same period in the prior year. Management is holding to an ambitious export target of 1.5 million vehicles in international markets by 2026, up from 1.05 million last year. To support that, BYD is plotting 3,000 fast-charging points across Europe by the end of 2027.

The critical test will come in the second half of 2026. If the Hungarian factory ramps up on schedule and the Brazilian export orders translate into sustained deliveries, the bull case for BYD’s localisation strategy will have real numbers behind it. For now, the market appears to be waiting for proof.