BYD‘s manufacturing base in Xi’an is seeking thousands of production workers after months of retooling its battery and vehicle lines, according to recruitment notices reported by Yicai on Monday.
The Xi’an Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau and the Xi’an High-Tech Zone Human Resources Industry Association posted more than 8,000 open positions across multiple plants and business divisions.
A contact listed in the notices confirmed to Yicai that the drive involves several thousand workers.
Applicants can receive a recruitment bonus of up to 6,000 yuan ($900). Local authorities are also drafting subsidies to support bulk recruitment, the report said.
Most of the openings are for skilled line work in welding, painting and final assembly. Ordinary operators are offered 5,500 to 8,000 yuan ($800 to $1,200) a month, and some skilled roles up to 10,000 yuan ($1,500), on top of the bonus, according to the notices as reported by Ifeng.
Blade Battery Transition
Feng Lei, President of the Huoshi Chuangzao Industrial Research Institute, told Yicai the hiring reflects a production ramp-up after BYD switched the Xi’an base to its second-generation Blade Battery.
During the first half of 2026, the Xi’an base cut production while lines were overhauled.
Some employees were transferred to BYD’s plants in Zhengzhou, Hefei and the Shenzhen-Shanwei cooperation zone.
Now that production schedules have recovered and export orders have surged, a concentrated labour shortage has emerged, Feng said.
BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu acknowledged the supply-chain strain earlier this year, saying output of models equipped with the new battery was constrained by manufacturing capacity.
Deutsche Bank analysts noted in a September 7 research note that management expected the second-generation Blade Battery supply shortage to be fully resolved in the first quarter of 2027.
Shaanxi Output Rebounds
The disruption showed up in provincial statistics. Automobile production in Shaanxi fell by about 50% year over year during the first seven months of 2026, according to data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics cited by Yicai.
August marked a turning point.
Shaanxi produced 138,900 vehicles during the month, compared with 89,400 in July — an increase of 49,500 units, or 55.4% month over month.
Year over year, production rose 17.9%, adding 21,100 vehicles.
Feng said strong production of export models is driving the rebound, while models built mainly for China still face intense price competition.
Xi’an’s Place in BYD’s Network
BYD’s Xi’an base spans four parks, Gaoxin, Caotang, Jixian and Xixian, with planned annual capacity of 1.5 million vehicles, according to Ifeng.
BYD’s Gaoxin plant built 1.07 million vehicles in 2024, nearly a quarter of the company’s national output, Ifeng reported.
The base builds Dynasty and Ocean models, as well as vehicles from BYD’s Denza, Fangchengbao and Yangwang brands.
Export Surge Drives Demand
The Xi’an hiring reflects a broader pattern: international demand is pulling production higher even as BYD’s sales in China fall.
BYD’s overseas passenger car and pickup sales reached a record 188,746 in August, up 134.6% year over year, the company said. It was the fifth consecutive monthly record.
Overseas sales totalled 1,157,954 in the first eight months, already more than the 1.05 million BYD sold abroad in all of 2025.
Exports now account for about 43% of the group’s total volume, up from around 25% at the start of the year.
Domestic passenger sales moved in the opposite direction.
BYD delivered 1,505,755 vehicles inside China through August, down 32.7% year over year.
August alone was 250,827, a 14.3% decline from a year earlier.
Management raised its overseas sales target for the third time this year to 1.9 million–2.0 million vehicles for 2026, up from 1.5 million set in March.
BYD aims to sell more than 2.5 million vehicles abroad in 2027, Deutsche Bank analysts reported.
Management told investors that shipping capacity, not manufacturing, constrained overseas volumes in 2026.
Building Abroad
BYD is also adding workers outside China.
At its complex in Camaçari, Brazil, BYD said on September 16 that it had passed 8,000 direct employees. It is hiring 1,500 people for a third production shift and another 500 for welding, painting and stamping plants in the final stage of construction.
“We are accelerating hiring in Camaçari because the third production shift will soon be a reality,” said Alexandre Baldy, Senior VP of BYD do Brasil.
In Europe, BYD’s first passenger car plant, in Szeged, Hungary, is expected to begin vehicle assembly later this year, with annual capacity of 200,000 vehicles at full ramp.
BYD’s special adviser for Europe, Alfredo Altavilla, said the company will ultimately need three assembly plants and one battery factory on the continent.
Management has been in talks with Stellantis and other carmakers to acquire underutilized factories across Europe.
In the Americas, BYD unloaded a record shipment of 1,918 vehicles in Chile in August and is targeting 10,000 cars in the country by year-end.
Four models are now being tested in Canada ahead of an expected market entry under the country’s Chinese EV import quota.
Overseas revenue exceeded domestic revenue for the first time in the first half, representing 53% of the company’s total. Second-quarter net profit rose 30% year over year, snapping a four-quarter losing streak.
BYD’s first-half revenue fell 7.1% and net profit dropped 20.5% to 12.33 billion yuan ($1.8 billion), weighed down by exchange-rate losses and the production disruption at bases including Xi’an.
