Selling too well! BYD to Raise 2026 Sales Expectations

According to a report from Deutsche Bank, BYD plans to sell over 2.5 million cars overseas in 2027. By expanding fleet size and increasing overseas production, it will further expand its rapid growth in international markets.

BYD management currently expects overseas sales in 2026 to reach 1.9 to 2 million vehicles. This is far higher than the 1.3 million target announced in January and the revised 1.5 million target in March.

Overseas markets have become a key support for BYD's domestic sales decline. In the first 8 months of this year, BYD's overseas sales increased by 85.72% year-on-year, reaching 1.16226 million vehicles.

During the same period, BYD's domestic sales fell 32.72% to 1,505,755 units, dragging total sales down 6.84% to 2,668,015 units.

Based on sales figures through August, BYD needs to achieve an average monthly overseas sales volume of about 184,000 to 209,000 units in the remaining 4 months to meet its latest full-year sales target.

In August, BYD's overseas sales reached a record 189,466 units, a 134.45% year-on-year increase, accounting for 43.03% of the total monthly sales.

BYD management stated that overseas sales this year were limited by shipping capacity; if capacity were sufficient, sales volume could have been higher.

BYD plans to achieve its 2027 sales targets by expanding its dedicated vehicle transport fleet, increasing market share, and increasing overseas local production.

Deutsche Bank noted that BYD's Indonesia factory has started production, the Brazil factory is gradually increasing annual capacity with a target of 300,000 units, and the Hungary factory is expected to begin assembly in November or December.

Management is also evaluating other overseas production locations to expand its local production scale.

Overseas expansion also supported BYD's profitability. BYD management stated that despite unfavorable exchange rates, the profit per vehicle overseas in the first half of this year was about 20,000 RMB ($2,950).

The company expects overseas profit per vehicle to remain basically stable in the short term. Gains from sales growth will be offset by continuous investment in sales network expansion and new factory commissions.

In China, BYD is relying on its Flash Charge technology and supporting network to drive sales, but battery supply remains a constraint on near-term deliveries.

BYD management stated that vehicle orders supporting the Flash Charge technology backlog is about 250,000 units. The supply shortage of the second-generation Blade battery is expected to be fully resolved in the first quarter of 2027.

BYD reiterated its goal to build 20,000 Flash Charge stations in China by the end of 2026, then add 30,000 more in 2027 and 40,000 in 2028, bringing the total to 90,000.

BYD also reiterated plans to deploy 6,000 Flash Charge stations overseas at a conference call, but did not provide a completion timeline.

Li Yunfei stated in an interview in July that the company plans to complete the construction of 6,000 overseas Flash Charge stations by the end of March 2027, including 3,000 in Europe, 2,000 in the Americas, and 1,000 in the Asia-Pacific region.

Smart driving is another key investment area. BYD management expects internal capabilities to see significant improvement in smart driving in 2027.

BYD will continue to independently develop solutions while allowing external suppliers to bid on projects. R&D investment, massive vehicle data scale, and hardware-software vertical integration will help consolidate smart driving technology advantages.