God's Eye Price Rise Exposes BYD’s Tension Between Margin Repair and Demand Slump

BYD hikes God's Eye B driver-assist package 21% to 12,000 yuan despite Q1 profit plunge of 55.4% and 15.5% sales drop. The price test comes as EV inventories hit 750,000 units.

For the first time in months, China’s electric-vehicle market is seeing prices go up, not down. Since the start of May, more than ten major NEV manufacturers have raised prices or trimmed purchase incentives on nearly 20 models, with adjustments ranging from 2,000 to 10,000 yuan per vehicle. BYD is squarely in that group, but the move comes against a backdrop that makes the pricing signal look more like a stress test than a victory lap.

BYD’s specific change targets the optional “God’s Eye B” driver-assistance package with LiDAR. From May 1, the price jumped from 9,900 to 12,000 yuan, a lift the company attributed to rising costs for global memory hardware. The increase may seem modest—just 2,100 yuan—but it touches a strategic nerve. Over 2.99 million vehicles are already fitted with some version of God’s Eye, and the fleet generates more than 190 million kilometres of real-world driving data each day. Monetising that technology base is central to BYD’s long-term margin story.

The immediate financial picture, however, tells a different tale. In the first quarter, BYD’s net profit collapsed 55.4% to 4.08 billion yuan, while revenue dropped 11.8% to 150.23 billion yuan. Operating cash flow shrank by 67.5%. The damage came from weak domestic demand and relentless price competition, and the weakness carried into April: BYD sold 321,123 new-energy vehicles during the month, a year-on-year decline of 15.5% and the eighth consecutive month of falling sales in the annual comparison.

The broader market complicates the outlook. China’s pure-electric-vehicle makers saw inventories swell to 750,000 units by the end of April, up from 690,000 at the end of March, adding pressure to keep discounts flowing. Yet May has offered a flicker of relief. In the first 17 days of the month, dealers sold 400,000 electric and hybrid vehicles, an 18% jump from the April period, though that volume still trailed the same period last year by 12%. For BYD, the crucial question is whether that sequential rebound will show up in its official monthly figures.

The current mix of a targeted option-price hike, a steep earnings slide, and still-elevated inventories means investors are watching two things. First, whether the 12,000-yuan God’s Eye package can hold without denting demand. Second, whether the May sequential improvement marks a genuine turning point or just a temporary breather in a market that has yet to prove it has moved beyond the worst of the price war. The second-quarter results will offer the first real verdict.