BYD October sales rise 5.7% to 490,168, but 2026 total still trails last year

BYD (HKG: 1211) sold 490,168 new energy vehicles in October 2026, up 5.7% from 463,561 in September and 10.97% from a year earlier. Even after that gain, its sales for the first ten months, at 3,621,744, remain 2.16% below the 3,701,852 vehicles it sold in the same period of 2025.

That leaves BYD 80,108 vehicles behind last year's pace with two months of 2026 to go. The gap has narrowed from September, when the year-to-date decline stood at 3.94%. According to one tally, September's total had been BYD's highest month of 2026 and its fifth straight month of year-on-year growth. October's filing puts it above that, which would make it a new high for the year and extend the run to six.

Battery-electric cars did the work. BYD's battery-electric passenger car sales rose to 305,743, up 11.9% from 273,143 in September and 37.38% from a year earlier. Plug-in hybrid sales fell 3.4% to 177,382 from 183,570, and were down 17.23% year on year.

That pushed the mix further toward pure electric models. Battery-electric cars made up 63.3% of BYD's 483,125 passenger car sales in October, compared with 59.8% of 456,713 in September. A year earlier, its battery-electric and plug-in hybrid passenger sales were nearly level at 222,559 and 214,297. For the first ten months, battery-electric sales are up 5.86% while plug-in hybrid sales are down 11.02%. Commercial vehicles, including 600 buses, added 7,043 units in October.

Battery-electric sales rose by 32,600 units from September while plug-in hybrids fell by 6,188 (chart based on BYD filings)

Exports moved the other way. BYD shipped 170,194 new energy vehicles abroad in October, down 5.8% from 180,700 in September and down from 189,466 in August, the second monthly decline in a row. Exports made up 34.7% of October sales, compared with 39.0% a month earlier.

BYD's sales excluding exports therefore rose 13.1% to 319,974 from 282,861 in September, and supplied all of the month's growth. The monthly filing does not break those sales down by market. Production of 488,104 vehicles was slightly below sales, so BYD sold 2,064 more cars than it built during the month.

Total sales rose by 49,875 units over the two months while exports fell by 19,272 (chart based on BYD filings)

China's car market as a whole offered little lift. China's passenger car retail sales from October 1 to 25 totaled 1.145 million, down 26% from a year earlier and flat with the same stretch of September. New energy vehicle retail sales over those 25 days were 753,000, down 13% year on year and 1% below the same period a month earlier, even as automakers' NEV shipments to dealers rose 6%.

The export slowdown follows a strong third quarter abroad. BYD reported net profit of 10.02 billion CNY (c. $1.49 billion) for the quarter, up 28.08%, and overseas sales of 1.343 million vehicles in the first nine months, up 92.66% and equal to 42.88% of its total. In March, executives told analysts in a briefing that BYD could sell about 1.5 million vehicles overseas this year, according to press reports, above the 1.3 million target it had set earlier in the year.

Geely Automobile (HKG: 0175) also grew from September. It sold 310,183 vehicles in October, up 6.2% from 292,168 and about 1% from a year earlier. Its exports held steady at 107,153, up 0.4% from 106,685 in September, after slipping from 110,094 in August.

Geely's battery-electric sales rose 12.4% to 140,758 from 125,254, close to BYD's pace, while plug-in hybrids climbed to 74,238 from 65,614. Its Galaxy brand sold 153,385 cars, up 20% year on year, while Lynk & Co fell 45% to 21,958 and Zeekr dropped to 32,483 from 37,216 in September. Geely's exports for the first ten months reached 904,823, up 168%.

Great Wall Motor (HKG: 2333) sold 120,374 vehicles, up 4.7% from 114,944 in September but down 15.87% from a year earlier. Overseas sales of 62,862 made up 52.2% of the total, so the Haval and Tank maker sold more cars abroad than at home in October. Its new energy vehicle sales rose to 49,499 from 41,982. By brand, Ora more than doubled from a year earlier to 12,187, while Haval fell 19.50% to 71,027 and Tank dropped 31.01% to 15,389.

BYD now needs its November and December sales to beat the same two months of 2025 by a combined total of more than 80,108 vehicles to finish the year ahead. With exports down for two straight months, the next two filings will show whether battery-electric demand can carry that load on its own.

Conversion rate: 1 USD = 6.7138 CNY as of October 30, 2026.