BYD wants to grow outside of China

In 2025, BYD exported around 1.04 million battery-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids. For this year, the company is targeting growth of approximately a quarter. While this still represents a significant increase, BYD is adopting a more cautious approach: from 2024 to 2025, its overseas sales surged by over 150%.The target of 1.3 million vehicles for overseas sales, recently announced by Li Yunfei, General Manager for Brand and Public Relations at BYD, at an event in Shanghai, indicates that BYD has slightly adjusted its plans in recent months. In a November analyst report by US bank Citigroup, overseas sales of 1.5 to 1.6 million units were still projected, citing BYD management.However, BYD has entered numerous new markets in recent years, which naturally drives increasing volumes. According to reports from China, BYD was active in 110 countries by the end of 2025. It remains unclear how many new countries the company plans to expand into this year. In key markets such as Germany, the company plans a comprehensive expansion of its local dealership network to boost sales in the long term.In total, BYD sold 4.6 million new energy vehicles in 2025 (+7.7%), of which 4.55 million were passenger cars. Of these, 2.26 million were battery-electric vehicles, with the remainder being plug-in hybrids. That means that 22.9% of all BYD passenger cars were sold outside China, compared to around 10% in 2024. In May 2025, it was revealed that the manufacturer aims to generate more than half of its sales outside China by 2030, while overall sales are also expected to continue rising. The overseas business must therefore grow significantly to meet these ambitions. At least BYD is not overly dependent on individual markets or regions: in 2025, Europe, North America, and the ASEAN markets each accounted for around a third of BYD’s overseas sales.BYD’s overseas business is not limited to exports from China. The manufacturer also operates several plants outside its home market, including in Thailand, Uzbekistan, Brazil, and soon in Europe. However, these facilities primarily produce models from China for local markets and further export—with one exception. The Shark pickup model is sold in Mexico, Brazil, Australia, Cambodia, and several other markets—but as the only BYD model, it is not available in China.cnevpost.com, carnewschina.com, scmp.com