The largest Chinese automaker BYD increased car sales by approximately 11% in October 2026 compared to last year. The main source of growth was overseas markets, while demand for the company's products in China itself continued to decline.

Bloomberg reported this on November 2, citing the company's sales results.

In October, BYD sold 490,168 new energy vehicles, including electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids. This is the sixth consecutive month that the manufacturer's sales have grown year-over-year.

Supplies of vehicles to foreign markets increased by 102.8% to 170,194 units. Thus, exports accounted for more than a third of the company's total sales.

Meanwhile, in the domestic Chinese market, BYD sold about 320 thousand cars, which is 10.6% less than in October 2025. The decline is associated with weak consumer demand and fierce price competition among local manufacturers.

Electric vehicles outpaced plug-in hybrids

According to data from the specialized publication CnEVPost, in October BYD sold 305,743 fully electric passenger cars. This is 37.4% more than last year and a new monthly record for the company.

Instead, sales of passenger plug-in hybrids decreased by 17.2% to 177,382 vehicles. The share of fully electric models in BYD's passenger car sales structure increased to 63.3%.

Despite the positive results in October, for the first ten months of 2026, BYD's total car sales amounted to 3.62 million units, which is approximately 2.2% less than the corresponding period last year.

Other Chinese automakers are also increasing exports

A similar trend is observed in other major Chinese automotive companies.

Chery Group increased sales by 5.3% in October to 295.9 thousand cars. At the same time, exports grew by almost 59% and exceeded 200 thousand units.

Geely Automobile sold 310.2 thousand cars, demonstrating growth of approximately 1% year-over-year. According to official company data, its exports reached 107.2 thousand vehicles, increasing by 158% compared to October 2025.

Growth in overseas sales supported BYD and Chery shares on the Hong Kong stock exchange on Monday, November 2.

However, the intensification of exports does not yet eliminate the profitability problems of Chinese automakers. In particular, BYD's financial results for the third quarter, published at the end of October, were weaker than analysts expected, despite an increase in profit and revenue year-over-year.

Further growth of Chinese automotive companies will increasingly depend on their ability to expand their presence abroad, as the domestic market remains under pressure from competition and weak demand.

Based on materials from: Bloomberg, CnEVPost, Geely Auto Group