BYD’s overseas sales soared in April as surging petrol prices in the wake of the Iran war spurred renewed interest in electric cars, though softening demand at home in China dragged total deliveries down for the eighth month in a row.
The automaker’s sales outside of China jumped 71% last month from a year earlier to 134,542, it said Friday in a post on social media platform Weibo.
Still, that wasn’t enough to prevent total deliveries falling 16% to 321,123.
The strength in international sales underscores the importance of BYD’s global expansion as demand at home cools following the removal of government subsidies and intensifying competition from the likes of Geely and Xiaomi.
BYD is aiming to sell 1.3 million cars outside China this year, around a quarter more than in 2025.
The prolonged slide in sales, combined with a fierce price war in China, has eroded BYD’s earnings and sent its short-term debt soaring.
The company is counting on a raft of new models and fast-charging batteries to drive sales for the rest of the year.
At the Beijing auto show, which started last week, BYD occupied an entire exhibition hall to showcase its multi-brand strategy and display cars equipped with the latest versions of its top-of-the-line “blade batteries.”
It received more than 30,000 pre-orders within the first 24 hours of the launch of its new flagship Great Tang sport utility vehicle, according to reports.
The seven-seater is capable of driving nearly 1,000km (620 miles) on a single charge and is expected to start at 250,000 yuan (around R600,000).
Chinese automakers continue to rely on discounts to lure domestic buyers, ignoring official efforts to put an end to the price war, and putting pressure on margins.
The average price reduction for BYD cars accelerated to 10% in March, the highest in two years, according to China Auto Market data compiled by Bloomberg.
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