BYD registered 6,242 vehicles in the United Kingdom in June, a 36.2% year-over-year increase from the 4,583 units sold in the same month a year earlier.
The figures also represent a 21.0% rise from the 5,157 recorded in May, according to data published on Monday by the UK’s Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
June marked BYD‘s strongest non-plate-change month on record in the country, as UK registrations typically spike in March and September — when new number plates are issued.
Second-quarter registrations totalled 16,458 vehicles, a 62.6% increase from the 10,119 units sold in the same period a year ago.
For the first half, BYD registered 37,795 vehicles in the UK — nearly double (94.9%) the 19,390 recorded a year ago.
The company sold roughly 51,400 vehicles in the UK across the whole of 2025, meaning first-half volumes alone have already reached 73.5% of last year’s full-year total.
Year-over-year growth decelerated through the quarter — from 101.5% in April to 70.5% in May and 36.2% in June — reflecting a normalizing comparison base as 2025 volumes ramped through the second half.
BYD entered the UK in March 2023. By the end of 2024, it had sold 8,788 vehicles in the country.
Sales then jumped nearly fivefold in 2025, making BYD the best-selling new energy vehicle brand in the country last year, excluding legacy automakers and the originally British, now SAIC-backed MG.
UK Lineup
BYD now lists offers models in the UK, including both plug-in hybrid (PHEV) models and battery electric vehicles (BEV).
These include six BEVs — the Dolphin, Dolphin Surf, Atto 2, Atto 3 Evo, Seal, and Sealion 7 — and six PHEVs — the Seal U DM-i, Seal 6 DM-i, Seal 6 DM-i Touring, Sealion 5 DM-i, Ti 7 DM-p, and the recently unveiled Dolphin G DM-i.
The Seal U DM-i has been the brand’s best-selling model in the UK for much of 2026.
The Dolphin G — BYD‘s first vehicle designed specifically for the European market rather than adapted from a China-market model — is expected to make its UK debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July.
Pricing is tipped to start from under £20,000, which would make it both the smallest and cheapest plug-in hybrid on sale in Britain.
Executive VP Stella Li first presented the B-segment hatchback at the Financial Times’ Future of the Car conference in London earlier this year.
Deliveries are expected to begin across European markets by the end of the summer.
BYD‘s UK regional sales and marketing manager Steve Beattie said last year that the company planned to launch six new models in 2026 and expand its dealership network from 75 locations to 90 by September.
The Chinese automaker is targeting 2,000 sales points across Europe by year-end.
BEV Market Context
The broader UK new car market grew 11.4% in June to 213,166 registrations — the best performance for the month since 2019, according to the SMMT.
BEVs accounted for 30.0% of the total, with 63,950 units registered, a 35.0% increase year over year.
Year to date, BEVs hold a 25.0% share of the UK market — a record level but still short of the 33.0% target set under the Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate.
The SMMT has been calling for an urgent review of the framework, arguing that BEVs would need to surpass 40.0% of registrations across the second half to meet the full-year requirement.
Among other EV-focused brands, Tesla led the BEV segment in June with 12,173 registrations, up 58.0% year over year and a 315.0% surge from May.
The Model Y topped the SMMT’s monthly best-sellers list with 6,765 units, followed by the Model 3 at 5,408.
XPeng posted 245 registrations in June, more than doubling year over year with a 115.0% gain, though volumes remain small in absolute terms.
BYD‘s 6,242 June registrations include both BEVs and plug-in hybrids, and the company does not publish a UK-level powertrain split.
Against the pure-BEV total of 63,950 units, BYD‘s full June figure would represent a notional 9.8% share of the segment — though its actual BEV-only contribution is lower given the growing weight of DM-i models in its lineup.
UK insurers remain more hesitant to cover vehicles from Chinese brands than those from established manufacturers, a Carwow survey showed earlier this year.
Despite that, BYD‘s Seal U DM-i was found to be both cheaper to buy and cheaper to insure than the comparable Toyota RAV4 plug-in hybrid.
UK as BYD’s Strongest Market
The United Kingdom was BYD‘s largest European market in the first half of the year.
Germany, which set a new monthly record of 6,265 registrations in June, has been the second-largest market behind the UK for most of 2026.
Spain has been among the fastest-growing, surpassing 40,000 cumulative registrations by the end of March.
Across Europe as a whole, BYD registered 135,307 vehicles between January and May across the EU, EFTA, and the UK, according to figures released by the ACEA.
The organization is expected to publish June data later this month.
