BYD aims to sell around 1 million new energy cars overseas in 2025, according to GM of brand and PR Li Yunfei. It means that BYD plans to double its overseas sales volume in the first half of 2025. This number will allow BYD to challenge leading Chinese car exporters SAIC and Chery.
BYD’s overseas sales have been rapidly growing since 2022. Last year, the world’s biggest NEV maker sold 417,204 cars outside China. In the first half of 2025, BYD’s overseas sales volume was more than 472,000 units. Nowadays, the company aims to double this number by the year-end.
BYD to sell around 1 million cars outside China
The 21st Century News Group reported that BYD General Manager of brand and PR Li Yunfei revealed the company’s overseas ambitions for 2025. The top manager shared that BYD expects its overseas sales for the full year to double compared to over 472,000 units sold in the first half. It means that the company plans to sell at least 944,000 units outside China.
BYD currently sells vehicles in over 100 international markets worldwide. It is worth noting that the Chinese automaker not only exports its cars. BYD operates overseas plants in Uzbekistan and Thailand. The company also plans to build several production facilities in Turkey, Hungary, Brazil, and other countries to navigate through tariff barriers.
For example, last month BYD shipped over 900 units of Thai-made BYD Dolphin electric cars to Germany, Belgium, and the UK to avoid an additional tariff of 20.7% on top of the existing 10% customs duty. Factories outside China will allow BYD to become more flexible while amplifying its overseas presence.
It is worth noting that overseas sales are a strong income stream for BYD. According to the Rodium Group’s last year’s report, the Chinese automaker makes 5,000 USD profit per vehicle sold in Europe, despite high tariffs. For comparison, the company’s net profit per car sold in China was around 9,000 yuan (1,260 USD) last year.
Export also became an important point for the BYD business as its domestic growth slowed down in China. Previously, Reuters reported that the company had slowed production in China due to rising inventories. Company officials denied this information. However, the rise of car inventories at dealers became a real issue as the company launched steep discounts across 22 models in May this year.
In total, BYD sold 2,458,914 passenger vehicles globally in the first seven months of the year, up 26.2% from the same period last year, according to data monitored by China EV DataTracker. However, their growth is slowing down as in July, the company sold 341,030 passenger vehicles, only 0.1% up year-over-year, and the lowest YoY growth in 1.5 years.
