BYD under the microscope

A YouTube video posted April 17 is putting BYD’s growth story under fresh scrutiny as the Chinese carmaker enters 2026 with weaker margins and heavier reliance on exports. (youtube.com) (cnevpost.com) BYD reported 2025 net profit of 32.62 billion yuan, down 19% from a year earlier, even as revenue rose 3.46% to 803.97 billion yuan and annual new-energy vehicle sales reached 4,602,436. Its gross margin narrowed to 17.74% from 19.44%, according to results released March 27. (bydglobal.com) (cnevpost.com) The company’s overseas push is carrying more of the load. BYD said exports topped 1.05 million vehicles in 2025, and Bloomberg reported in March that BYD was targeting 1.3 million overseas sales in 2026 after domestic sales weakened in the first two months of the year. (cnevpost.com) (bloomberg.com) That shift sits inside a wider trade fight over Chinese electric vehicles. The European Commission imposed five-year countervailing duties on battery electric vehicles from China in October 2024, including a 17.0% rate for BYD, after concluding that China’s battery electric vehicle supply chain benefited from unfair subsidies. (ec.europa.eu) (trade.ec.europa.eu) The video’s focus on pricing lands as BYD is still dealing with a bruising market at home. BYD said in its 2025 results that China’s new-energy vehicle industry faced “persistent price wars,” and its March 2026 sales fell 20.45% from a year earlier even after rebounding from February. (cnevpost.com 1) (cnevpost.com 2) BYD’s low prices are not only a subsidy story. The company makes its own batteries and many key components, which gives it tighter control over costs than rivals that buy more parts from suppliers, a structure that has helped it keep selling both battery-electric and plug-in hybrid models at scale. (bydglobal.com) (cnevpost.com) Trade barriers are also changing where Chinese carmakers build and ship vehicles. Bloomberg reported that BYD’s Brazil plant had received reported orders tied to Argentina and Mexico, while Mexico said in September 2025 that it would raise tariffs on cars from China and other Asian countries without a trade agreement to 50%. (bloomberg.com) (usnews.com) BYD’s Brazil strategy is also facing non-price scrutiny. Reuters reported this month that Brazil added BYD to a labor blacklist after inspectors identified 163 workers in “slave-like” conditions at a factory construction site, a case that has complicated one of the company’s most important overseas manufacturing bets. (reuters.com) (agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br) None of that proves BYD’s rise is exaggerated. It does show that the company’s next phase depends less on headline unit growth alone and more on whether it can protect margins, navigate tariffs and keep its export machine running under closer political and regulatory inspection. (cnevpost.com) (ec.europa.eu)