BYD Balances Sports Sponsorship and F1 Ambitions With a Stubborn Domestic Sales Drop

BYD’s global ambitions are taking an increasingly public turn. The Chinese electric-vehicle giant has signed on as the official automotive partner of Paris Saint-Germain through 2029, a deal that covers both the men’s and women’s teams and aims to tap the club’s massive international fanbase. At the same time, the company’s vice-president Stella Li has held talks in Monaco with Formula One Management boss Stefano Domenicali and FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, exploring either a full team acquisition or a stake in an existing outfit. No deal has been finalised, but the dual-pronged sports push signals BYD’s determination to raise its profile in Europe at a moment when its home market is dragging on overall performance.

That domestic drag is severe. BYD delivered roughly 1.78 million vehicles worldwide in the first half of 2026, a 16.1 percent year-on-year decline. China alone accounted for only 795,169 units, a plunge of 45.9 percent compared with the same period last year. The slide is all the more striking given that new-energy vehicle penetration in the country jumped from 38.6 percent to 62.9 percent between January and May, an environment that should favour the largest NEV maker. The sharp reversal suggests intensifying competition and a possible market slowdown are eating into BYD’s domestic sales volume, even as the overall shift to electric mobility accelerates.

Overseas expansion, however, continues at pace. BYD has now delivered more than 130,000 vehicles in Thailand cumulatively, while its Rayong factory — the company’s first passenger-vehicle plant outside China — celebrated its second anniversary with five locally certified models and an annual capacity of 150,000 units. In Pakistan, the biggest single shipment of more than 2,000 BYD vehicles arrived in Karachi on 18 July via roll-on/roll-off vessel. Australia received 5,000 EVs by sea, and Brazil will start local production of the Dolphin G DM-i plug-in hybrid in early 2027, a model with a combined range exceeding 1,000 kilometres. For 2026, BYD is targeting 1.5 million overseas vehicle sales and says that figure is likely to be beaten, a number that would go some way to offsetting the domestic slump.

Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying BYD?

New models and proprietary technology are backing the push. On 17 July BYD unveiled the next-generation Tang SUV, nicknamed the “8er-Tang”, measuring 5,045 mm long with a 2,950-mm wheelbase and available in five- or seven-seat configurations. The entry-level single-motor variant delivers 300 kW and is expected to start at around 160,000 yuan. At the premium end, the Da Han flagship sedan — aimed squarely at the Mercedes S-Class — offers a single-motor version with a 102.3-kWh LFP battery and a CLTC range of up to 1,008 kilometres, priced at an estimated 300,000 yuan (roughly US$44,259). Under the Denza brand, the Z9S brings up to 1,194 hp in its tri-motor setup and a 920-km CLTC range from a 102.326-kWh battery. On the technology front, BYD claims it has developed China’s first 4-nanometer driver-assistance chip, the Xuanji A3, a 16-core processor with a bandwidth of 273 GB/s. Three chips working together deliver over 2,100 TOPS of computing power, enough to support Level 3 and Level 4 autonomous driving. Chairman Wang Chuanfu also announced a one-year safety guarantee for users of the “God’s Eye A” and “God’s Eye B” systems; more than 2.85 million BYD vehicles were already equipped with such systems by March 2026, generating roughly 180 million kilometres of driving data daily.

The stock market has greeted this mixed narrative with caution. BYD shares closed at €9.90 on Friday, down 1.75 percent on the day, and the price remains 6.94 percent below its 200-day moving average. Over the past 30 days, the stock has managed a 9.39 percent recovery from a weaker patch, but the 12-month return is a painful minus 27.58 percent — a reflection of investors’ persistent unease over the domestic sales slide, even as international expansion and high-profile sponsorship deals provide regular headlines.

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