BYD sells more than 300,000 battery-electric cars in a month for the first time

Record BEV month

BYD sold 305,743 battery-electric passenger vehicles in October, up 37.38% from a year earlier and 11.94% from September, the company said in a Hong Kong stock exchange filing on Sunday. That was its third consecutive monthly record for fully electric passenger cars.

Total new energy vehicle sales, including plug-in hybrids and commercial vehicles, reached 490,168, up 10.97% year on year and 5.74% from September. October was BYD's strongest sales month since December 2024 and its fourth-highest monthly total, behind only the three months of the fourth quarter of 2024, when sales peaked at 514,809 in December. It was also the sixth straight month of year-over-year growth and the eighth straight monthly increase, though growth slowed from 16.98% in September.

The China Passenger Car Association ranked BYD first among passenger NEV makers by wholesale sales, ahead of Geely and Chery. BYD's passenger NEV wholesale sales totaled 483,125, followed by Geely with 213,165 and Chery with 134,471. The association estimated China's passenger NEV wholesale sales at 1.8 million in October, up 12% year on year and 8% from September.

For scale, just over 262,500 EVs were sold in the United States in the entire third quarter, according to Kelley Blue Book estimates. BYD's October battery-electric total was about 43,000, or 16%, higher.

The mix tilts to battery power

BEVs accounted for 63.28% of BYD's passenger vehicle sales in October, up from 59.81% in September and 50.95% a year earlier. The shift matters because BYD has traditionally relied heavily on plug-in hybrids alongside its fully electric lineup.

Plug-in hybrid passenger vehicle sales fell 17.23% year on year to 177,382, the second consecutive month of year-on-year declines. In the first 10 months, BEV sales rose 5.86% to 1,935,700, while plug-in hybrid sales fell 11.02% to 1,625,969.

Exports carry growth as domestic sales fall

BYD exported 170,194 new energy vehicles in October, up 102.84% from a year earlier but down 5.81% from September. Exports accounted for 34.7% of October sales, down from 39.0% in September but up from 19.0% a year earlier.

Domestic sales were 319,974 vehicles, down 10.6% year on year but up 13.1% from September and the highest of the year. For January to October, BYD sold 3,621,744 vehicles, down 2.16% from 3,701,852 a year earlier.

Deutsche Bank and Citi analysts said management raised BYD's overseas target to 1.9 million to 2.0 million vehicles this year, after a September meeting. Hitting that would require about 196,300 to 246,300 overseas sales a month in November and December, above August's record.

What to watch

BYD said on 9 October that order demand for flash-charging models is strong and that accelerating the capacity ramp-up of its second-generation Blade Battery is its top priority. The company is expected to introduce the second-generation Seal 07 on November 5, with both fully electric and plug-in hybrid powertrains.