Tesla's biggest rival in China, BYD, saw its sales slip for the first time in over 18 months amid China's bruising EV price wars. The Chinese automaker said in an exchange filing on Wednesday that it sold 396,270 cars in September, a 5.5% decline from the 419,426 cars it sold a year earlier. The last time BYD saw a sales drop was in February 2024. That month, BYD sold 122,311 cars, a nearly 37% drop from the 193,655 cars it sold in February 2023.
BYD is halting plans to build a major factory in Mexico due to concerns about US trade policies. Geopolitical issues have a big impact on the automotive industry. Now everybody is rethinking their strategy in other countries.
Labour prosecutors in Brazil have launched a lawsuit against BYD and contractors for illegally trafficking workers who endured conditions likened to slavery on a plant construction site.