The secret to BYD's success is simple: The company makes high-tech electric and hybrid cars and sells them at incredible prices. The tiny BYD Seagull costs as little as $8,000 in China, and it's a megahit in several countries. The Chinese car industry-not just BYD but also its many competitors that also make affordable cars-is quickly taking over the world.
The Seal U sold over 70,000 units in 2025, and it has a lot to do with the price. China missed a top spot on the list of best-selling electric cars in Europe last year, but it made up for it in the plug-in hybrid segment. That's because the BYD Seal U, a crossover that's roughly the same size as a Tesla Model Y, secured the top spot on that list.
But it's hard to find those vehicles in North America. One month before he opened this year's United Nations climate summit, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva helped open a new mega-factory at the site of a former Ford car manufacturing plant. The new plant, in Brazil's Camacari, Bahia, is one of many being built around the world by China's BYD, the world's largest manufacturer of electric cars.
Whenever I attend an international launch for a new Chinese car, I can't help overhearing what other English-speaking journalists are talking about. Some are still making jokes about the Chinese car industry, like it's still 2010, and Western automakers still dominate technology and sales. However, it's 2025, and China's largest carmaker, BYD, sells more plug-in cars than anyone else on Earth and boasts some of the fastest-charging and most advanced electric vehicles in the world.
Wang Chuanfu, the 59-year-old CEO of BYD, wanted to demonstrate the safety and cleanliness of the batteries developed by his company during a meeting with Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett's company. He did this by drinking a glass of the electrolyte liquid from one of them. The Hathaway crew was stunned. Was this man an idiot or a genius? Years later, having become the richest man in China, the verdict is clear.
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.
