The year 2025 marked a historic moment for China's automotive industry. Vehicle production and sales both exceeded 34 million units, securing the top global position for the 17th consecutive year. Domestically, new energy vehicles officially surpassed 50% of total sales, transitioning electrification from a trend to a mainstream choice. Beyond these macro figures, the critical questions revolve around who is driving this structural shift and whether the momentum is sustainable. BYD Company Limited stands as an unavoidable core case study.
In 2025, BYD's annual sales surpassed 4.6 million vehicles, securing its fourth consecutive year as the global leader in new energy vehicle sales. The company also claimed the top spot for both automaker sales and brand sales within the Chinese market. Entering 2026, this growth trajectory continued, with January new energy vehicle sales reaching 210,000 units, reflecting broad market recognition of its robust capabilities.
The significance of these achievements extends beyond surface numbers to an evolving growth logic characterized by accelerated global expansion, a continuously fortified technological system, and rapid breakthroughs in the premium segment.
Global expansion is an endurance race. In 2025, overseas markets became a vital growth engine for BYD, with annual overseas sales reaching 1,049,600 units, a 145% year-on-year increase. Eschewing a market-share-at-any-price approach, BYD emphasizes long-term strategy, building systemic capabilities for sustained growth. Centered on a "dealer network + local factories + logistics system" framework, BYD accelerated its overseas infrastructure deployment. This includes establishing production bases in countries like Thailand, Hungary, and Brazil, and operating a fleet of 8 roll-on/roll-off vessels with an annual transport capacity exceeding one million vehicles.
Currently, BYD's new energy vehicles are available in 119 countries and regions. Sales have surged in key markets such as Brazil, Germany, and the UK, continuously enhancing brand influence. This success is not reliant on a single hit product but stems from the systematic export of technological platforms, supply chain prowess, and localized operations. BYD is transitioning from "product export" to "technology export," and ultimately toward "brand globalization."
Substantial research and development investment underpins the core capabilities driving this sustained global push. Data shows that in the first three quarters of 2025, BYD's R&D expenditure reached 43.75 billion yuan, a 31% year-on-year increase, with cumulative R&D investment exceeding 220 billion yuan. From 2011 to 2024, the company's annual R&D spending surpassed its net profit in 13 out of 14 years. R&D investment in the first three quarters of 2025 was also significantly higher than net profit for the same period.
These investments translate into tangible, mass-producible technological capabilities. In 2025, BYD introduced technologies like the "Tianshen Zhiyan" advanced driver-assistance system and the super e-platform supporting megawatt-level flash charging, pushing the industry's technological boundaries forward. The "Tianshen Zhiyan" system, for instance, offers multi-level solutions across the brand portfolio, even making intelligent features available in models priced around 70,000 yuan, democratizing technology previously reserved for premium segments.
By the end of 2025, BYD had over 2.56 million vehicles equipped with its ADAS on the road, with an activation rate of 94.13%. The system recorded 9.33 million Automatic Emergency Braking activations throughout the year, demonstrating high-frequency application in real-world scenarios. This technological prowess has become a crucial pillar supporting sustained sales growth, with robust capabilities forging a sales legend.
On the foundation of a strengthened technological system and global capabilities, BYD's premiumization strategy follows a logic distinct from previous Chinese brands. The core long-term challenge for Chinese brands in the premium market has not been the ability to build good cars, but rather establishing stable, sustainable value propositions. BYD's approach is to advance premiumization through technological capability rather than relying solely on brand premium.
Through its three sub-brands—Yangwang, Denza, and Fang Cheng Bao—BYD has established a layered presence across personalized, mainstream luxury, and ultra-luxury segments. Fang Cheng Bao redefined off-road vehicles with electric drive and intelligence, achieving sales of 234,600 units in 2025, a staggering 316.1% year-on-year increase, becoming a key disruptor in the new energy off-road market. Denza D9 sold 103,500 units for the year, with cumulative sales exceeding 300,000 units, breaking the long-standing monopoly of foreign brands in the luxury MPV segment. Yangwang entered the million-yuan price bracket with core technologies like the "Yi Si Fang" platform and "Yun Nian" suspension, using technological barriers to set a price anchor for Chinese ultra-luxury vehicles.
Within this structure, each brand fulfills distinct market and technological missions, transforming premiumization from a single-point breakthrough into a sustainable, long-term pathway.
From an industrial perspective, BYD's significance transcends the success of a single company. It represents the Chinese automotive industry's transition from "chasing specifications" to "building systems." When technology can underpin global expansion and, in turn, fuel breakthroughs in premium segments, the Chinese auto industry truly enters a new phase of high-quality development. In this process, BYD has become an undeniable landmark.
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