BYD's Record Exports Conceal a 26% Home Market Slump as Global Factory Push Accelerates

BYD hit record international sales in April (135,000 units, +70% YoY), but domestic deliveries fell 15.5% for the eighth straight month. Price war crushed Q1 net profit 55.4%. Company expands overseas factories amid tariff pressures.

BYD delivered more vehicles to international buyers in April than in any previous month — yet the headline figure masks a deepening crisis on home soil. The Chinese electric vehicle giant shipped roughly 135,000 units abroad last month, a 70% surge year-on-year, even as domestic sales continued their downward spiral. Chinese EV makers collectively nearly doubled their European sales to 38,281 units, capturing a 15.3% share of the region's electric car market.

At home, the picture is starkly different. BYD sold 321,123 electrified vehicles in April — 7% more than March but 15.5% fewer than a year earlier. That marked the eighth consecutive month of year-on-year declines. The cumulative tally for the first four months of 2026 came in at approximately 1.02 million vehicles, a 26% drop from the same period last year. The brutal price war in China's EV market has taken a heavy toll on margins: first-quarter net profit tumbled 55.4% to 4.09 billion renminbi.

Factories in Hungary and Turkey, Talks in Europe

To bypass new tariffs and secure access to Western markets, BYD is rapidly building production capacity outside China. Its plant in Szeged, Hungary, is already running trial operations, with full production slated to begin in the second quarter of 2026. Meanwhile, construction of a $1 billion factory in Manisa, Turkey, has started, targeting an annual capacity of 150,000 vehicles. The Turkish site will also host a research and development centre, leveraging established local supply chains to feed into the European Union.

In a separate strategic move, BYD is reportedly in talks with Stellantis and other legacy automakers about acquiring idled factories in Europe. Such a deal would allow the company to scale up local assembly far faster than building from scratch — a gambit that aligns with its ambition to become a top-tier global player rather than just a low-cost volume manufacturer.

A Flurry of New Models and Charging Ambitions

At home, BYD is keeping up a relentless product cadence. On 26 May, the Sealion 06 DM-i goes on sale, offering a pure-electric range of up to 310 kilometres and a combined driving radius exceeding 1,800 kilometres. Two days later, the company will unveil the Song Ultra DM-i, a SUV fitted with a new lidar-based driver assistance system. Buyers can choose between two battery sizes for the plug-in hybrid.

Beyond China, BYD has launched the Ti 7 in Saudi Arabia, expanding its presence in the Middle East. The company is also accelerating the rollout of its own ultra-fast charging infrastructure in China, where drivers can top up their batteries to a high percentage in just a few minutes at specialised stations.

Stock Languishes Despite Ambitious Analyst Calls

Hong Kong-listed BYD shares currently trade at HKD 91.60, well below the psychologically important HKD 100 mark. The stock carries a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.5 — a notable premium to the Asian auto industry average of 18.4, reflecting expectations that BYD's technological edge will eventually overcome the current earnings slump.

Analysts at Simply Wall St see the stock as significantly undervalued, pegging a fair value at HKD 180. They cite BYD's deep vertical integration and projected 23% annual earnings growth through 2028 as the foundation for a dramatic rebound. Whether those forecasts materialise depends on the company's ability to stabilise its home market while turning its overseas expansion into sustained profitability.