BYD was the best-selling new energy vehicle brand in Spain last month, with 3,003 vehicles registered and a 15.4% share of the market — national vehicle registration data showed on Monday.
The Shenzhen-headquartered automaker expanded its passenger vehicle lineup to the Iberian Peninsula — including both Spain and Portugal — in early 2023.
In the Spanish market, it offers both battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid models (PHEVs) — which include the newly introduced hybrid Atto 2.
The Atto 2 SUV — first launched a year ago as a fully electric model — was BYD’s best-seller in February, with 1,253 units registered.
Of these, 969 were the hybrid version, which has just completed its first month in the market.
The Atto 2 DM-i debuted with an entry-level price of €18,190 ($21,100) — about €2,000 above the battery electric (BEV) version, which starts at €15,990.
Among BYD’s fully electric models, the Dolphin Surf led the compact segment with 435 units registered.
The best-seller Dolphin Surf launched in mid-2025 with an entry-level price starting from €11,780 — excluding the Value Added Tax (VAT), which pushes the price above €20,000.
However, while BYD led both fully electric and plug-in hybrid sales in January, Tesla overtook the Chinese brand in February in the fully electric segment, with its Model 3 sedan becoming the best-selling BEV.
Overall, Spanish sales of fully electric vehicles rose 48% year-on-year in February, totaling 10,181 units and accounting for 8.8% of the market.
Meanwhile, plug-in hybrid registrations grew 11%, representing 11% of total vehicle sales.
BYD Results
The Chinese brand’s vehicle registrations in Spain have tripled in February when compared to a year ago.
If considering January’s 1,962 units, through which BYD secured a staggering 13.6% market share in the country, February sales jumped over 50%.
When it comes to fully electric vehicles, sales doubled year over year 1,157 units.
Due to the strong market performance of the hybrid Atto 2, BYD‘s plug-in hybrids surpassed BEVs in sales — a position that the powertrain had been holding for the past eight months.
According to data from the platform EU-EVs, the company sold 15,857 fully electric vehicles in Spain last year, a fivefold surge from 2024, when 3,801 BEVs had been registered.
BYD placed just 200 units below Tesla, the best-selling EV maker in the country last year.
The total vehicles sold across both powertrains reached 27,518 vehicles.
Upcoming Factory
Earlier this year, BYD began trial production in its first European plant in Hungary, following delays in completing construction of the passenger vehicle factory.
Manufacturing fully electric vehicles in Europe will allow the automaker to avoid the European Commission tariffs imposed in October 2024 on imported EVs.
In October, Reuters reported that BYD was considering Spain for its third European factory, after Turkey and Hungary.
A BYD Portugal executive revealed weeks later that Spain’s neighbor was also under consideration.
No further updates on the location of the upcoming plant have been given. However, competitors are moving to secure manufacturing operations in Spain.
Auto Plants in Spain
Stellantis-backed Chinese automaker Leapmotor announced late last week that it will start manufacturing in Zaragoza in the second half of this year.
Led by Antonio Filosa, Stellantis is one of Europe’s largest automakers, alongside Germany-based Volkswagen Group.
The partnership will let Leapmotor benefit from Stellantis’ production expertise, just as it has already leveraged the company’s sales network support as it expands throughout the Old Continent.
Meanwhile, Chery — behind the Jaecoo and Omoda brands, which entered Spain last year — is also preparing to start production in Europe’s second-largest automotive market, after several delays to the project.
Production in Spain will begin “as soon as possible” this year, the company’s Executive VP and CEO for the European Union Region Zhu Shaodong told Reuters last month.
