BYD's European Order Books Are Filling Fast — Just Don't Ask About America
Published on 10/08/2026 at 14:50 | Editorial boerse-global.de
BYD has drawn a line under its American ambitions, at least for now. Executive Vice President Stella Li used a fresh round of public remarks to confirm that the Chinese automaker is shelving passenger-car sales in the United States, citing a lack of regulatory clarity, an unstable market environment and — above all — geopolitical friction, which she singled out as the single biggest obstacle to the group's global roll-out.
That retreat stands in sharp contrast to the momentum building on the other side of the Atlantic.
Britain leads the charge
September registrations in the United Kingdom leapt to 20,140 units, an 80 percent jump on the same month a year earlier. The SEAL U DM-i carried the brand's British order book, emerging as the country's best-selling model for the month.
Germany told a similar story. BYD booked 6,052 new registrations there, with private buyers accounting for 65 percent of the total — a share the company flagged as a record for its retail business. More than 3,900 of those vehicles went to private customers.
Those two markets are doing more than padding the top line. They are steadily widening BYD's regional revenue base and chipping away at its reliance on Chinese domestic demand, a shift that has become a strategic priority as competition at home intensifies.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying BYD?
Exports carry the load as China stalls
The global picture for September: 463,561 new-energy vehicles delivered, up 17 percent year on year, according to Reuters. Overseas shipments of passenger cars and pickups did the heavy lifting, surging 153.9 percent to 179,877 units. The caveat buried in that headline number is one of deceleration — growth cooled from the 17.8 percent pace recorded in August.
For the first nine months of 2024, BYD moved 3,131,576 vehicles with alternative drivetrains, a dip of 3.94 percent from the prior-year period. Management noted the figures remain unaudited and subject to revision.
The gap between buoyant export figures and hesitant domestic buying is the defining tension in BYD's current story. A bruising price war and softer demand inside China have made overseas distribution channels dramatically more valuable for manufacturers of all stripes.
The Street is split
Analysts are not reading the same tea leaves. Soochow Securities restated its buy rating on Wednesday, pointing to the sustained strength of foreign sales. JPMorgan went the other way roughly a week earlier, cutting its recommendation from "Overweight" to "Neutral" and trimming its price target to HKD 88. The US bank cited an expected soft patch for China's auto sector in the second half, rising input costs and looming trade barriers that could blunt overseas growth.
Investors appear to be siding with the cautious camp. The stock slipped 1.4 percent to EUR 8.29 in today's session, hovering just above its 52-week low of EUR 8.03. Measured from the start of the year, the shares are down 22 percent.
Boardroom reshuffle
Alongside the operational news, BYD has been reworking its governance. Shareholders signed off on several supervisory board changes in late September, appointing Cai Hong-ping and Li Yong-zhao as non-executive directors, while Li Gang and Xu Tu joined as independent directors.
Whether the Western push can permanently offset the drag from home now rests on how the coming export months unfold — and on whether tariff and non-tariff barriers leave enough room to run.
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