BYD accelerates thanks to its all-electric vehicles. Over 490,000 NEVs sold in October
In the article:
October turned out to be BYD’s best month of 2026
The Chinese manufacturer delivered over 490,000 electric vehicles (NEVs) in the tenth month of the year
Full electric vehicles are primarily responsible for the brand’s performance
The plug-in hybrid segment is losing momentum
BYD is growing thanks to “electric cars,” but it is still catching up to last year’s results
The largest Chinese automaker reported sales of 490,168 NEV vehicles in October, including electric cars and plug-in hybrids. This figure represents a 5.7% increase from September and nearly 11% better than the same period last year. Despite the growth, the company remains below its sales pace from the previous year. From January to October, it delivered 3,621,744 vehicles, compared to 3,701,852 vehicles in the same period of 2025, resulting in a difference of 80,108 cars, according to Global China EV.
The October result is significant for another reason as well, as everything indicates it was BYD’s best month of 2026 and the sixth consecutive month of year-over-year growth.
Electric cars drive performance upward
The biggest surprise is the scale of growth in battery car sales. In October, BYD sold 305,743 electric passenger vehicles, which is 37.4% more than a year earlier. Compared to September, the increase was nearly 12%. The situation is quite different for plug-in hybrids. Their sales dropped to 177,382 units, representing a 17.2% year-on-year decline. As a result, the share of electric vehicles in BYD’s total passenger car sales rose to 63.3%, up from 59.8% just a month earlier.
Data shows that the manufacturer is increasingly relying on battery-powered models for its growth. From January to October, sales of BYD’s electric vehicles increased by 5.86%, while the plug-in hybrid segment saw a decline of 11.02%, according to Bloomberg.
Exports Are No Longer the Driver of Growth
The situation in foreign markets is interesting. BYD exported 170,194 vehicles in October, 5.8% less than the previous month. This marked the second consecutive decline in exports. This means the company’s sales growth was primarily driven by the domestic market. After accounting for exports, sales in China increased by 13.1% month over month, reaching 319,974 vehicles.
The decline in exports is interesting because just a few months earlier, international expansion was one of the company’s strongest strengths. In the first nine months of the year, sales outside China rose by 92.66%, with foreign markets accounting for 42.88% of the group’s total sales – according to cnevpost.com.
What about the previous years?
The scale of BYD’s expansion is best illustrated by recent results. Over the past decade, the brand has evolved from a manufacturer primarily operating in the Chinese market to one of the world’s largest players in the electric vehicle sector. The year 2025 alone was record-breaking for the company, with sales exceeding 3.7 million vehicles after just ten months. This year’s figures are slightly lower, but October shows that the company is gradually closing the gap with last year’s results.
Analysts will now be focusing on November and December. To end the year with better results than in 2025, BYD must sell more than 80,000 vehicles in the final two months compared to the previous year.
What does BYD offer in Poland today?
BYD’s portfolio in Poland focuses primarily on battery-powered vehicles. Currently available at dealerships are the compact Dolphin, urban Atto 2, SUV Atto 3, sedan Seal, SUV Seal U EV, and flagship sedan Han. For larger SUVs, the brand also offers the Tang model.
It is models such as Seal and Seal U EV that are intended to strengthen BYD’s position in Poland. The manufacturer hopes that growing interest in electric vehicles in Europe will help maintain high sales growth even outside China.
Oskar Włostowski