BYD bets on new tech as China EV competition heats up

BYD is focusing on new technology to boost sales as competition intensifies in China’s EV market, according to founder and chairman Wang Chuanfu.

Wang told shareholders that the company’s 12,000 engineers are working on advancements, including faster charging.

BYD, the world’s largest EV assembler by deliveries, lowered its 2025 sales target by 16% to 4.6 million units, though it still reflects a 7% year-on-year rise.

In November, BYD delivered 480,186 cars, down 5.3% from a year earlier.

Sales for the first 11 months rose 11.3% to 4.2 million vehicles.

Wang expressed confidence in BYD’s research and development capabilities. BYD overtook Tesla as the top global EV builder in 2022.

🔗 Source: South China Morning Post

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Price cuts push margins toward ~18% (broker estimate) while making more parts in-house supports ~$1,000-$1,300 profit per unit

BYD has cut prices three times since March, trimming some models by up to $7,300 1. Industry profit margins fell from 4.3% in 2024 to 3.9% in Q1 2025 1.
Morgan Stanley cut BYD’s gross margin forecasts to 18.1% for 2025, then 18.5% for 2026 2. Competition stays heavy, while offshore (outside China) production earns less 2.
Morgan Stanley expects unit profit near $1,000 per vehicle in 2025, rising to $1,300 by 2027 2. BYD’s costs improve with over 90% in-house battery supply as lithium carbonate (a key battery material) fell from $82,000 to $8,200 a ton 1.
Q3 profit fell 33% to $1.1 billion while Geely (a Chinese automaker) posted 96% sales growth, and Chongqing Changan (a state-owned Chinese carmaker) rose 84% 3.

Mobility plus charging providers in Mexico, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Russia can grow service revenue as these markets absorbed ~1.1 million Chinese vehicles in nine months

Mexico received 410,739 Chinese vehicles through September 2025, about 10% of the country’s 4.95 million exports, while UAE took 367,796 and Russia 357,708 units 4.
New Energy Vehicles (NEV) exports surged 99.9% year-over-year in October 2025 to 256,000 units, with January-October shipments reaching 2.0 million vehicles 5.
Providers across charging, payments and compliance can prioritize these three markets, with aftersales next 4 5.
Chinese EV makers could earn about $130 per unit abroad, near four times domestic margins, which supports premium service pricing in export markets 3.