Chinese giant BYD said on Saturday that it aims to achieve 1.3 million sales outside China this year – 24.3% more than the nearly 1.05 million exports recorded in 2025.
The announcement was made by the brand’s General Manager and Public Relations Division, Li Yunfei, at a media briefing in Shanghai.
Last November, Citigroup said that BYD had set an overseas sales goal of between 1.5 million and 1.6 million units for this year, citing a meeting with the Shenzhen-based company’s management.
Strong overseas sales growth, the global rollout of its most affordable model Dolphin Surf across dozens of markets, and expansion into several new regions last year helped propel BYD to the position of the world’s leading EV maker in 2025.
As a result, it surpassed the US giant Tesla for the first time.
However, due to intense competition in China, the automaker’s NEV domestic sales fell 6.3% year over year to 3,484,525 units last year, according to data released earlier this month by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).
Exports Comparison
Last year, BYD exported a total of 1,049,601 new-energy vehicles (NEVs), representing a 150.7% increase compared to 2024.
In full-year 2024, the company delivered 4,272,145 vehicles, including 417,204 units overseas — an increase of 71.9% year on year.
In 2023, exports rose by 334.2% year over year to 242,765 units.
NEV Sales
With 4,602,436 new energy vehicles (NEV) sold globally last year, BYD‘s deliveries increased 7.7% compared to 2024, meeting its revised annual target of 4.6 million units.
Originally, the automaker aimed to deliver 5.5 million vehicles in 2025, but reduced it by nearly 1 million last September.
BYD set its strongest monthly results of 2025 in November, with 480,186 vehicles sold.
However, sales have declined year over year in the last four months of the year. In December, the Chinese company registered 420,398 units, a 18.3% decline from a year before.
From last April, sales of battery-electric vehicles (BEV) surpassed plug-in hybrids (PHEV) for the first time.
However, as the end of the year approached, BEV sales declined. In December, PHEVs were the best-selling powertrain.
BYD Global Expansion
BYD closed 2025 being available across “six continents, in 110 different countries”, according to a research note from Piper Sandler’s analyst Alexander Potter.
Last week, the company shipped 5,800 vehicles into Argentina, thanks to President Javier Milei’s decision to lift import tariffs in April 2025.
The carmaker debuted in Argentina last October and sold out for 2025 even before the market launch.
Additionally, BYD started producing electric vehicles in Brazil last year, as it expands its manufacturing footprint around the globe.
The company is preparing to start producing vehicles in its Hungarian factory in the second quarter, according to Executive VP Stella Li.
Its factories in Thailand, Uzbekistan and Brazil are expected to provide 300,000 units per year of combined capacity.
Piper Sandler noted that the company will additionally produce vehicles in Malaysia and Cambodia, and is “also targeting Japan,” where it unveiled its first market-specific vehicle, the kei car ‘Racco,’ last November.
