Excluding Russia and Iran, BYD Jan-Jun Exports Surpass Chery! Europe Grows 136%

In the first half of 2026, the overseas export rankings of domestic automakers witnessed profound changes. If excluding Russia and Iran, these two special markets with geopolitical dividends, BYD's overseas sales have already surpassed Chery. This data also reflects the completely different globalization layout strategies of the two automakers.

BYD Chairman and President Wang Chuanfu

Customs export data for the first half shows Chery's overall exports at 944,000 units, among which the Russia and Iran markets contributed a combined 283,000 units. Excluding these two markets, Chery's sales in global marketized regions totaled 661,000 units. Out of strategic considerations, BYD actively abandoned the Russia and Iran markets. On one hand, the geopolitical situation in these two areas is complex, operational stability is very poor, currency fluctuations and sanctions could bring operational risks at any time; more critically, to concentrate all resources on deepening the European mainstream market, avoiding chain reactions in Western public opinion caused by the layout in Russia and Iran which could affect the European layout, BYD chose to strategically exit these two regions. All of BYD's 789,400 unit exports came from fully marketized regions such as Europe, Southeast Asia, Australia, Latin America, etc., and the total amount is already significantly leading Chery after excluding the dividend markets.

For many years, Chery relied on the market dividends of the Russian-speaking region and Iran, long staying at the first place in Chinese car exports. After Western European and American automakers actively withdrew, a huge vacuum appeared in the local fuel vehicle market, and Chery took stable sales through this. However, such markets are greatly affected by geopolitical situations, stability is insufficient, and do not have reference value for the global market. BYD actively gave up short-term dividends and persisted in deepening mainstream mature economies, making the growth more solid.

The European market has become BYD's most important growth engine. In the first half of 2026, BYD new registrations in Europe reached 162,400 units, compared to 70,500 units in the same period last year, with a year-on-year increase of up to 136%, achieving over doubling growth. Breaking it down, DM-i plug-in hybrid models were the largest incremental growth, surging 260% year-on-year, skillfully avoiding the pressure brought by the EU pure electric anti-subsidy measures; pure electric models climbed steadily, rising 78% year-on-year. Germany, Italy, Spain and other core Western European countries all achieved substantial growth, with no weak markets.

BYD's ability to continue rising relies on a complete system layout. Factories in Thailand and Brazil are continuously ramping up, and the Hungarian production base is about to go into production in the fourth quarter, which can avoid EU tariffs and further amplify the advantage in Europe. The independent Ro-Ro fleet is continuously expanding, thoroughly breaking free from the limitations of ocean shipping capacity, laying the foundation for continuous exports. Chery lacks overseas production bases, capacity is already close to the ceiling, superimposed with the Russia-Iran dividend markets showing top growth, subsequent growth will gradually slow down.

Based on the current growth rhythm, even if Russia and Iran sales are fully counted, BYD's total export volume at the end of this year has a high probability of surpassing Chery and taking the number one spot in annual Chinese car exports.

Short-term geopolitical dividends can support the rankings for a while, but cannot support long-term globalization. Looking only at mainstream markets with free competition, BYD has already surpassed, which also means that Chinese automakers going global have officially entered a new stage relying on product power to layout globally.