Record Export Month Puts BYD's Domestic Slide Into Sharp Focus Ahead of Shareholder Vote
03.06.2026 - 14:32:55 | boerse-global.de
The numbers coming out of BYD tell two wildly different stories. Global deliveries finally snapped an eight-month losing streak in May, but the engine driving that recovery is almost exclusively overseas demand — while the home market continues to haemorrhage sales at an alarming rate. That tension will dominate the agenda when shareholders gather in Shenzhen on June 9 for the company's annual general meeting.
BYD moved 383,453 vehicles worldwide in May, a marginal 0.3 percent increase year-on-year that ends a prolonged period of stagnation. Yet the headline masks a dramatic divergence. Exports surged 80.7 percent to 160,177 passenger cars and pickups, meaning nearly 42 percent of all BYD vehicles sold last month left China. Europe and emerging markets absorbed the bulk of the extra supply, aided by oil price volatility that has rekindled interest in battery-electric cars.
Domestically, the picture is grim. Sales inside China tumbled 24 percent to around 222,800 units, the 13th consecutive monthly decline. Rivals are eating BYD's lunch: Leapmotor, a once-obscure startup, delivered a record 81,500 vehicles in May. Price cuts are off the table — Beijing has urged the industry to halt further discounting — and BYD's latest driver-assistance features have not persuaded budget-conscious buyers to pay a premium. Year-to-date, production and sales are running roughly 21 percent and 20 percent below the first-half 2025 run rate, respectively.
European Ambitions Hit a Regulatory Snag
BYD's flagship overseas project — a factory in Szeged, Hungary — is facing headwinds of its own. Three contractors working on the site have been sanctioned, and Hungarian authorities have launched an environmental investigation into the plot. The controversy reached the European Parliament after a report by China Labor Watch alleged that migrant Chinese workers employed by subcontractors were made to work seven-day weeks with shifts exceeding 12 hours. One of the firms named, AIM Construction Hungary — a subsidiary of Jinjiang Construction Group — was already linked to labour-rights complaints at a BYD plant in Brazil last year.
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The political backdrop has shifted too. Viktor Orbán, who championed BYD as a flagship investor, lost the April election. His successor has signalled openness to continued Chinese investment but made it conditional on compliance with Hungarian and European standards on the environment, health and safety at work. The Szeged plant is designed to produce 300,000 vehicles a year at full capacity and currently builds the Dolphin Surf model. No timeline has been set for reaching that output.
New Silicon and a Fast-Charging SUV
On the technology front, BYD is pushing forward. The company has unveiled the Xuanji A3 chip, built on a 4-nanometre process and delivering over 2,100 TOPS of computing power. It is designed to underpin the God's Eye driver-assistance system and handle Level 3 and Level 4 autonomy. Meanwhile, a new E-segment SUV called the Datang has been launched, fitted with second-generation Blade batteries and a charging system that adds 200 kilometres of range in five minutes.
Sub-brand performance was mixed but showed some bright spots. Fang Cheng Bao sold more than 30,200 units in May, a jump of nearly 140 percent year-on-year. The ultra-luxury Yangwang marque delivered 286 vehicles, more than doubling its volume from a low base. The core Dynasty and Ocean series together accounted for 330,215 units.
Dividends, AGM and the Stock’s Next Move
The June 9 AGM will cover routine items including the appointment of Ernst & Young Hua Ming as auditor and approval of a guarantee framework worth up to 150 billion renminbi for subsidiaries and associates. Shareholders will also vote on a final dividend of 0.358 renminbi per share for fiscal 2025, with payment scheduled for August 9. The ex-dividend date falls on June 11.
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The market has taken a cautiously positive view. BYD's Hong Kong-listed shares rose 4.19 percent on June 2 to close at 97.10 HKD, with analysts pegging fair value in a 120–125 HKD range. In Frankfurt, the stock was trading at 10.25 euros, down 2.7 percent on the day, and with a relative strength index of 83 it is technically overbought after a recent run-up — despite a near 9 percent decline over the past month.
Cumulative deliveries from January through May stand at 1.41 million units, still roughly 20 percent below the year-ago level. The May rebound in exports provides a glimmer of hope, but with domestic demand showing no sign of stabilising and a new regulatory headache in Hungary, BYD enters its shareholder meeting with more questions than answers about how sustainable its current growth trajectory really is.
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