33 Days, 10,000 Li, One Answer: Why Do Chinese Cars Sell at High Prices and Yet Well?

August 25, BYD served as the full-travel partner for the "2026 Silk Road 10,000 Li Journey · Path of Enlightenment", which concluded in Singapore. The fleet departed from Xi'an on July 24, spanning 33 days, crossing six provinces in China, traversing Thailand and Malaysia, and finally arriving in Singapore.

Ya Li feels that what is most thought-provoking about this conclusion is not how far the fleet traveled, but where it stopped — Singapore. As one of the markets with the highest cost of car ownership globally, the threshold for buying a car is absurdly high, and consumers choose cars more skillfully than anyone. Yet precisely here, BYD has been the sales champion across all passenger car brands for 19 consecutive months as of July 2026. From January to July, the market share reached 24.7%, with the pure electric market share surging to 40.3%. Other cars rely on price cuts for overseas expansion, but BYD sells for more in Singapore than in China and still ranks first — being able to pull off this "high-end game" and gain full prestige relies truly not on luck.

The 33-day 10,000 Li field test also speaks for BYD. Flash charging technology achieves "5 minutes to charge, 9 minutes to full charge". Relying on the network layout of nearly 10,000 flash charging stations nationwide, it completely bids farewell to anxiety about energy replenishment on long-distance EV trips. The Heavenly Eye driver assistance system relies on more than 220 million kilometers of actual driving data daily for continuous iteration, alleviating fatigue on long-distance driving.

At the conclusion ceremony, the four major Silk Road artifacts — Bozhou fragrant medicine, Jingdezhen porcelain, Hangzhou AI Silk, and Wuyi Rock Tea — made their first overseas collective appearance. These products circulated along the Silk Road a thousand years ago; today they are replaced by new energy vehicles and intelligent technology — from "goods exchange" to "co-construction of technology, industry, and ecology", the path of going overseas has completely changed. Singaporean Chinese representative Fu Huode said well: "Xi'an is the starting point, Singapore is the intersection point, and blending is the eternal endpoint."

In January to July 2026, BYD's overseas cumulative sales exceeded 970,000 units, with year-on-year growth of about 76%. From Xi'an to Singapore, this 10,000 Li journey concluded, but BYD's rhythm of "random refresh" on the global map clearly has only just begun.