BYD may have peaked already

Chinese electric superstar brand BYD experienced a sales slump in 2025 and there's no sign of it stopping in 2026.

So, does this mean the carmaker that rose to popularity with such spectacular speed will come hurtling back down again? Not at all.

It might seem a little delayed but the final 2025 financial figures are in for planet Earth and BYD has reported a net profit that's down by 19 per cent compared to 2024. The naysayers are out in force calling it the beginning of the end for the relatively new electric brand, which shot to success so quickly.  

For Australians, BYD seemingly appeared out of nowhere in 2022 with the Atto 3 small SUV with the words Build Your Dreams emblazoned across its tailgate. At the time Tesla was the king of EVs, with the Model 3 being bought in such large numbers even locally that for the first time in 28 years the Toyota Camry was knocked off its best-selling-sedan throne. 

A decade earlier back in 2011 Tesla owner Elon Musk reportedly laughed at the mere suggestion that BYD, the small company that had gone from battery manufacturer to car maker, could possibly ever be a threat. Then in 2024 BYD was crowned the world largest electric car maker, toppling Tesla.

BYD's total number of cars sold for 2024 was 4.27 million, of which 1.77 million were pure EVs beating Tesla by only 4000 units. But a win is a win. 

The big sales saw BYD rake in A$164b in revenue for 2024, which once the bills were paid resulted in a net profit of $8.5b.

Now the 2025 results are in and net profit is $6.9b this time. There's your 19 per cent drop on 2024. 

So yes sure, net profit is down, and looking at that bottom line alone might suggest things are going backwards for the brand, but the actual total number of EVs sold by BYD globally was 2.25 million. That's a 27.9 per cent increase on 2024.

BYD's revenue for 2025 was $168.6b, so up 3.5 per cent on 2024. While not a huge increase it is a slow down and that can be attributed mainly to competition from competitors in China.

Geely is BYD's biggest nightmare.

BYD has been lightning fast to develop, produce and bring an array of new models to market, but Geely has the power that comes with the colossal size and resources of a company with many subsidiaries. 

Much like Volkswagen, giant Geely can draw on a number of its brands from Polestar to Zeekr, and even Geely itself, to take on the smaller BYD.

To say that China's car market is competitive is an understatement. So fierce is the price war between brands in China that the government had to release a statement warning car makers that the low offers and incentives being made to entice buyers weren't sustainable.  

Just to drive home how seriously close the entire market is flirting with disaster, at the start of this year eight percent of dealerships in China were found to sell vehicles 26 per cent under the whole sale price on average. 

BYD is understood to engage in such practices along with other brands to increase their market share. The government is clamping down on the practices and it's believed the market is now correcting itself.

Domination of the local Chinese market vital for BYD, but it knows true success is also being a big player around the world, with the brand stating it hopes to be within the top 3 car brands for Australia in 2026. 

There are signs it could be well on the way to achieving that goal with BYD selling 5001 cars in January and 5323 in February in Australia, which has it in sixth place of overall sales this year.

Globally, however, the first two months have shown a decline in BYD's sales. In March Reuters reported BYD's sales had fallen 41 per cent in February compared to the same time in 2025. This could be a result of the Chinese market and the correction taking place.

So, it's far from all over for BYD, the brand is well on the way to establishing itself in Australia and given the sky rocketing fuel prices due to the war in Iran, it's in an excellent position to grow further with alternatives to pure combustion powered vehicles.