BYD officially released the May 2026 production and sales flash report, with new energy vehicles from all brands reaching a monthly sales volume of 383,453 vehicles, a slight increase of 0.26% year-on-year, achieving year-on-year positive growth in monthly sales after ten months; among them, passenger car deliveries reached 376,990 units, surging 19.4% month-on-month, wiping out the pain of previous model iterations, presenting a new pattern where the domestic base is stable, overseas sales are soaring, and high-end brands are scaling up across the board. Amidst the market environment of intensified competition in the domestic new energy sector, Tesla FSD entering China, and an intense launch of independent new products, it has forged a unique structural growth path.

The Dynasty and Ocean main brands combined sold 330,215 vehicles in May, accounting for over 80% of the group's total sales, remaining the stabilizer for BYD's sales volume. The full series had 8 models exceeding 20,000 units in monthly sales, covering products from 50,000 entry-level commuter to 200,000 home SUV.

Inside the Dynasty Network, the Yuan family sold 56,691 units, and the Song family 51,370 units. Both crossed the 50,000 threshold, becoming two major sales pillars for the brand, catering to home commuter and urban-rural travel needs; the Qin family followed closely with a stable performance of 28,360 units. The Han and Tang series maintained a volume in the six-thousand range, deeply cultivating the mid-to-large home sedan and SUV niche markets; the brand new model Xia is in the market cultivation phase, delivering 1,810 units monthly, with potential for steady volume growth as channels expand.

The Ocean Network's growth momentum is even more rapid, with 5 models entering the 20,000 club across the series: Sealion 42,615 units, Seal 34,117 units, Seagull 39,919 units, Dolphin 22,260 units, and Song PLUS 27,755 units. Among them, Seagull remains the best-selling entry-level commuter model thanks to its affordable pricing of 60,000-80,000. Sealion, as a new volume model, stands firm at the 40,000 level upon launch, filling the mid-size SUV product gap in the Ocean Network and perfecting the Ocean product tier layout. From commuter small cars to compact SUVs, the two main brands rely on DM-i hybrid and pure electric dual-line technologies to牢牢锁住 the mainstream home market share within 150,000 domestically.

The high-end matrix of Denza, Fang Cheng Bao, and Yangwang sold a combined 46,489 vehicles in May, officially breaking away from the niche positioning to become a new pivot for BYD's brand premium and profit growth, breaking the industry curse of difficulty in high-end breakthrough for domestic brands.

The off-road brand Fang Cheng Bao sold 30,186 units monthly, surging 139.7% year-on-year, creating a new high in monthly sales since the brand launched. Its Titanium 7 model sold 18,280 units monthly, while Leopard 5 and Leopard 8 output remained stable, continuously squeezing the survival space for joint venture and imported models in the 250,000-400,000 hardcore off-road niche market.

Denza delivered 16,303 units in May, with the MPV benchmark D9 selling 6,721 units, and the Z9 series close to 6,000 units. MPV and mid-to-large sedan dual-line efforts helped them stand firm in the luxury new energy track; the million-level ultra-luxury brand Yangwang continued its steady climb, delivering 286 units that month, a year-on-year increase of 105.8%, completing market verification of the domestic brand ceiling product and forming a full price range product layout from 100,000+ home, 300,000-400,000 off-road, 500,000 luxury MPV to million-level flagship.

In May, BYD's overseas sales of passenger cars and pickup trucks reached 160,177 units, surging 80.7% year-on-year. Exports accounted for over 42% of the full series total sales, setting a new historical high for brand export and becoming the core driving force to stabilize May overall sales and achieve year-on-year positive growth.

Southeast Asia, Europe, and Latin America became the main incremental markets. Seagull, Song PLUS, and Yuan series continued to top new energy best-seller lists in multiple countries; the SHARK pickup truck exceeded 4,000 units in monthly exports for two consecutive months. Relying on the completion of localization production in Thailand, Brazil, Hungary, and Uzbekistan with four overseas vehicle factories, localized production continues to land, avoiding tariffs while rapidly penetrating terminal channels. Against the background of stock market competition in the domestic auto industry and normalized price wars, the rapidly expanding overseas market effectively counteracts sales volatility brought by domestic model iterations, officially upgrading from a supplementary market to BYD's core growth engine. As of now, BYD's global cumulative new energy vehicle sales have exceeded 16.5 million units, with the globalization map continuously broadening.

May marked a key node in BYD's intelligent driving landing, with the God's Eye intelligent driving system becoming a core bonus point for models: the number of vehicles with advanced intelligent driving across all brands exceeded 3.15 million, with daily road test data exceeding 200 million kilometers; that month, BYD implemented City Pilot and Smart Parking dual safety backup services, becoming the world's first auto manufacturer to achieve dual intelligent driving backups. Three days after policy implementation, the activation rate of models equipped with the God's Eye system in cities surged 50%. Intelligent driving experience upgrades directly drove in-store order conversion, solidifying product competitiveness for subsequent models to continue volume sales, and facing the intelligent driving market shock brought by FSD entering China.

From data details, BYD's cumulative sales from January to May 2026 were 1,405,039 units, down 20.32% year-on-year. The core reason is that the full series of main models were concentratedly iterated, and the capacity ramp-up of the 2nd Gen Fast Charge Blade Battery was restricted. The new Flash Charge Battery upgraded fast charging and low-temperature performance. Full series iteration models prioritized installing new batteries, but production line retrofitting dragged down capacity release. Order backlogs on popular models and delayed deliveries compressed the May delivery volume to a certain extent.

As the end of the second quarter approaches and the 2nd Gen Blade Battery capacity continues to release, coupled with new models such as Denza N8L, Fang Cheng Bao Titanium 7 Pure Electric Version, Sealion 05, and Xia L landing the market, the industry generally predicts that BYD's full brand sales in June are expected to exceed 400,000 vehicles. Relying on the four-dimension development logic of low-end volume locking share, high-end raising profit, overseas pushing volume, and intelligence improving product power, amidst the intensified new energy elimination round in the domestic market, BYD's full category layout advantage continues to amplify, securing its status as the domestic new energy leader, accelerating steadily towards global top auto manufacturers.

5 月 29 日至 6 月 7 日，2026（第三十屆）粵港澳大灣區車展開幕。比亞迪囊括 1 號館，打造專屬品牌展覽館。比亞迪商用車首次以全矩陣、全品類陣容同台展出，全方位展示全場景新能源交通生態佈局。

作為全球新能源商用車引領者，比亞迪商用車依托集團三電核心技術與全產業鏈優勢，建成成熟產品體系，本次展出車款涵蓋新能源客車、新能源卡車兩大核心品類，以硬核技術、可靠產品、優質服務樹立商用綠色出行標竿。

卡車領域，比亞迪攜純電動輕卡 T5、轎卡 T4、牽引車 Q3、灑水車 T18 等核心車款亮相，產品線覆蓋 3.5 噸至 31 噸，適配不同場景需求。其中，轎卡 T4 採用低阻力、輕量化設計，實現百公里耗電 18.5kWh（CLTC 工況），兼顧小卡實用性與轎車舒適性，重新定義純電轎卡。該車自國內上市後市場反應熱烈，目前已成功進入日本、墨西哥、新加坡等海外市場。4.5 噸級輕卡 T5 提供純電和混合動力兩種選擇，可匹配倉柵、冷藏、廂貨等不同上裝，與 T4 作為輕商領域核心車款，適配快遞、商超、冷鏈等物流場景。

純電動牽引車 Q3 配備多檔電量版本，適用於工業園區、港口及中短途物流運輸，全面覆蓋場內作業、短途配送、專項運輸等各類使用場景。純電動灑水車 T18，搭載大容量電池，最大爬坡坡度超 30%，輕鬆適配各類路況。同系列環衛車，十年三次護航國家盛典，憑藉新能源技術及品質的至高認可，向世界展現中國新能源科技的硬實力與綠色擔當。

作為全球公交電動化的引領者，比亞迪純電動客車產品涵蓋 6 米至 27 米。在現場，純電動客車 B12（歐洲版）、C11 兩大主力車款亮相。其中，全新客車 C11 基於 e-BUS 平台 3.0 打造，搭載刀片電池、CTC 電池底盤一體化、客車雲輦 A、全域 1000V 高壓架構等核心技術，在安全、高效、智能方面實現全面升級，為道路客運領域打造高品質出行新選擇。

截至目前，比亞迪商用車全球累銷超 20.3 萬輛，足跡遍及 6 大洲、70 多個國家和地區，是首個進入歐美日韩發達市場中國汽車品牌。未來，比亞迪商用車將持續發揮乘商協同優勢，以技術創新驅動全球商用車電動化發展，助力構建綠色低碳交通體系。

Have you ever seen the roads in India?

I've seen them online.

The scene is usually like this: a sedan blocked behind a cow, motorcycles running wild nearby, even milk tea vendors nearby, so "clean and hygienic".

However, in a place where many feel physically uncomfortable after watching, Toyota, Suzuki, Honda and other Japanese car companies decided to bet on India.

According to the Indian "Brand Quality Foundation" website, the three car companies will invest nearly $11 billion to build factories, increase capacity, and develop exports in India.

Some netizens commented: Did the three Japanese car companies have too much money?

In fact, they didn't have endless money to spend, nor were they bewildered by Indian curry. These Japanese car executives are much clearer than us.

Current Japanese car revenue and market share are declining. Raw material costs are soaring. Looking at the world map, finding a market that can accommodate capacity, expand share, and has gentle competition is not easy.

So, it wasn't that Japanese car companies chose India, but because they had no choice.

The Pain of Japanese Car Companies

Past Japanese cars were truly the envy of others.

Ask old drivers who drove Japanese cars over ten years ago, talking about Japanese cars, almost no one doesn't give a thumbs up, cheap price, fuel saving, durable...

Even many Japanese cars needed to be bought at a markup, but who would think this iron fortress would be beaten out of sight in a few short years.

With the wave of new energy vehicles coming, electrification and intelligence became the goal for many domestic car companies to "leapfrog". Relying on China's strong new energy vehicle industry chain advantages and car companies' own persistence on R&D and technology, Chinese independent brands quickly achieved "leapfrogging".

Domestic cars once criticized are now becoming more and more common on the roads, even surpassing joint ventures in share.

According to CPCA data, in April 2026, the share of independent brands reached as high as 62.5%, far exceeding Japan's 13.1%.

You need to know, the Chinese car market is the largest car market in the world. Losing speed in the Chinese market is like losing a huge piece of cake.

Meanwhile, the main theme of the Chinese market in recent years is still price wars. Racing on configuration, price, and service has become a normal state, which also had a huge impact on Japanese cars' profits.

Apart from China, Japanese cars are also not doing well in the US.

On January 20, 2025, Trump swore in as the 47th US President, starting a series of chaotic operations, including imposing additional car tariffs in the name of national security, causing the tariff rate for imported Japanese cars to reach as high as 27.5% at one point. Although it decreased later, it was still far higher than the initial tax rate.

This operation directly led to a tariff loss of over 2 trillion yen for seven Japanese car companies in fiscal year 2025.

Looking at Japan itself, it is actually not easy either.

Middle East geopolitical conflicts blocked shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, transportation costs and raw material costs soared, Japanese car companies also had to suffer in silence.

Executives looking at the reports, their backs went cold, only to find a new growth curve.

So, Japanese car companies didn't fall in love with India, there was nowhere else to go.

Deep Thought on Choosing India

So, what magic does India have, to make Japanese car companies invest heavily?

The first advantage is big. In 2025, the Indian car market achieved 5.517 million new car sales, up 6% year-on-year, breaking the historical record, ranking as the third largest car market in the world, exceeding Japan for four consecutive years, second only to China and the United States.

The value of this doesn't need me to say much. India achieved this result mainly because India has been promoting tax reduction policies to promote consumption, which led to a significant increase in domestic consumption willingness.

The second advantage is close, meaning it is close to places where Japanese cars sell well, such as Africa.

So, India for Japanese car companies is more like a convenience store built in the center of a crossroad. You don't need to ship cars to eight countries separately, just build well at this stop in India, then unload ship by ship, and you can save a lot of costs.

The Nikkei also believes that India is expected to become its global car supply center.

The third advantage is stability. You know, Japanese cars' advantage is fuel cars, after all, the three major components of engines, gearboxes, and chassis, they have played for many years, technology accumulation is number one in the world.

But the Chinese car market has fully promoted electrification and intelligence development, leading to Japanese cars' advantage becoming weaker and weaker, impossible to play out. But India is different, it has the characteristics of few charging piles and slow electrification process. Indian old people buying cars still look for cheap, fuel saving, easy to fix, and these three points are exactly Japanese cars' old trade.

Especially Suzuki, always been India's car market evergreen, almost always sitting on the best-selling model throne, reputation of being worry-free, better than any advertisement.

So, Japanese car companies' vigorous layout of the Indian market is obviously carefully considered.

But, is the Indian market really that easy to mix?

The Hard-to-Bite Indian Market

Of course, India is not perfect like a hot commodity, its disadvantages are as obvious as its advantages, and every one is enough for Japanese car companies to face a hard time.

First talk about electrification. Yes, right now India has few charging piles and electric cars don't sell well, it is indeed a shelter for Japanese fuel cars. But you have to think, how long can this "shelter" avoid?

India previously shouted the slogan of 30% of new cars being electric vehicles by 2030. Although it sounds like bragging, but can't help but they really give subsidies, really build charging stations.

Imagine, what if one day India suddenly wakes up, starts vigorously promoting electrification, doing infrastructure, charging piles popping out like mushrooms after rain, then Japanese cars will be dumbfounded?

Isn't this a version of the Thai market?

Back then Japanese cars in Thailand won easily. The entire Southeast Asian market was called Japanese cars' backyard. Result Thailand took the lead in promoting electrification. Chinese electric vehicles came in, directly became a hot commodity. Look at Japanese cars again, share in Thailand falling down rapidly.

If India accelerates electrification, history will likely repeat, and this time, Japanese cars don't even have a place to flee, how to prevent will become the first problem for Japanese car companies.

Next talk about policy. India's policy is like a pot of curry, you never know if you will eat chicken or potato next time.

This magical country, today low tariff encourages building factories, tomorrow may fine you a huge amount. What's more annoying is mandatory joint venture. Foreign car companies want to sell cars in India, have to find local partners to partner up. When your factory is built, supply chain is done, India directly backstabs you. At that time whether adding money or withdrawing capital, what you get is heartache.

So you see, this market like India is like a mango that looks very sweet, bite the first mouth it's okay, chew two more mouths hit the hard core.

Japanese cars now is calculating, while the core hasn't bit the tooth, hurry up to nibble a few more mouths, but the core will bite sooner or later, just don't know which day.

Epilogue

Japanese cars this trip to India, not go for tourism, is go to make a living.

Chinese and Southeast Asian dining tables are more crowded, production and transportation costs have risen. Looking around the world, only this pot in India is still steaming, even if what is boiling inside is curry-flavored stones, have to bite hard and chew down.

Japanese car companies want to expand market, India wants to pull economy, solve employment, both sides have their own thoughts.

As for the ending is Japanese cars in India regain their glory, or like past competitors shamefully walk away, then is not known.

But no matter how, this play just started, we slowly watch is okay.

Anyway India's story, never bored.

Have you ever seen the roads in India?

I've seen them online.

The scene is usually like this: a sedan blocked behind a cow, motorcycles running wild nearby, even milk tea vendors nearby, so "clean and hygienic".

However, in a place where many feel physically uncomfortable after watching, Toyota, Suzuki, Honda and other Japanese car companies decided to bet on India.

According to the Indian "Brand Quality Foundation" website, the three car companies will invest nearly $11 billion to build factories, increase capacity, and develop exports in India.

Some netizens commented: Did the three Japanese car companies have too much money?

In fact, they didn't have endless money to spend, nor were they bewildered by Indian curry. These Japanese car executives are much clearer than us.

Current Japanese car revenue and market share are declining. Raw material costs are soaring. Looking at the world map, finding a market that can accommodate capacity, expand share, and has gentle competition is not easy.

So, it wasn't that Japanese car companies chose India, but because they had no choice.

The Pain of Japanese Car Companies

Past Japanese cars were truly the envy of others.

Ask old drivers who drove Japanese cars over ten years ago, talking about Japanese cars, almost no one doesn't give a thumbs up, cheap price, fuel saving, durable...

Even many Japanese cars needed to be bought at a markup, but who would think this iron fortress would be beaten out of sight in a few short years.

With the wave of new energy vehicles coming, electrification and intelligence became the goal for many domestic car companies to "leapfrog". Relying on China's strong new energy vehicle industry chain advantages and car companies' own persistence on R&D and technology, Chinese independent brands quickly achieved "leapfrogging".

Domestic cars once criticized are now becoming more and more common on the roads, even surpassing joint ventures in share.

According to CPCA data, in April 2026, the share of independent brands reached as high as 62.5%, far exceeding Japan's 13.1%.

You need to know, the Chinese car market is the largest car market in the world. Losing speed in the Chinese market is like losing a huge piece of cake.

Meanwhile, the main theme of the Chinese market in recent years is still price wars. Racing on configuration, price, and service has become a normal state, which also had a huge impact on Japanese cars' profits.

Apart from China, Japanese cars are also not doing well in the US.

On January 20, 2025, Trump swore in as the 47th US President, starting a series of chaotic operations, including imposing additional car tariffs in the name of national security, causing the tariff rate for imported Japanese cars to reach as high as 27.5% at one point. Although it decreased later, it was still far higher than the initial tax rate.

This operation directly led to a tariff loss of over 2 trillion yen for seven Japanese car companies in fiscal year 2025.

Looking at Japan itself, it is actually not easy either.

Middle East geopolitical conflicts blocked shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, transportation costs and raw material costs soared, Japanese car companies also had to suffer in silence.

Executives looking at the reports, their backs went cold, only to find a new growth curve.

So, Japanese car companies didn't fall in love with India, there was nowhere else to go.

Deep Thought on Choosing India

So, what magic does India have, to make Japanese car companies invest heavily?

The first advantage is big. In 2025, the Indian car market achieved 5.517 million new car sales, up 6% year-on-year, breaking the historical record, ranking as the third largest car market in the world, exceeding Japan for four consecutive years, second only to China and the United States.

The value of this doesn't need me to say much. India achieved this result mainly because India has been promoting tax reduction policies to promote consumption, which led to a significant increase in domestic consumption willingness.

The second advantage is close, meaning it is close to places where Japanese cars sell well, such as Africa.

So, India for Japanese car companies is more like a convenience store built in the center of a crossroad. You don't need to ship cars to eight countries separately, just build well at this stop in India, then unload ship by ship, and you can save a lot of costs.

The Nikkei also believes that India is expected to become its global car supply center.

The third advantage is stability. You know, Japanese cars' advantage is fuel cars, after all, the three major components of engines, gearboxes, and chassis, they have played for many years, technology accumulation is number one in the world.

But the Chinese car market has fully promoted electrification and intelligence development, leading to Japanese cars' advantage becoming weaker and weaker, impossible to play out. But India is different, it has the characteristics of few charging piles and slow electrification process. Indian old people buying cars still look for cheap, fuel saving, easy to fix, and these three points are exactly Japanese cars' old trade.

Especially Suzuki, always been India's car market evergreen, almost always sitting on the best-selling model throne, reputation of being worry-free, better than any advertisement.

So, Japanese car companies' vigorous layout of the Indian market is obviously carefully considered.

But, is the Indian market really that easy to mix?

The Hard-to-Bite Indian Market

Of course, India is not perfect like a hot commodity, its disadvantages are as obvious as its advantages, and every one is enough for Japanese car companies to face a hard time.

First talk about electrification. Yes, right now India has few charging piles and electric cars don't sell well, it is indeed a shelter for Japanese fuel cars. But you have to think, how long can this "shelter" avoid?

India previously shouted the slogan of 30% of new cars being electric vehicles by 2030. Although it sounds like bragging, but can't help but they really give subsidies, really build charging stations.

Imagine, what if one day India suddenly wakes up, starts vigorously promoting electrification, doing infrastructure, charging piles popping out like mushrooms after rain, then Japanese cars will be dumbfounded?

Isn't this a version of the Thai market?

Back then Japanese cars in Thailand won easily. The entire Southeast Asian market was called Japanese cars' backyard. Result Thailand took the lead in promoting electrification. Chinese electric vehicles came in, directly became a hot commodity. Look at Japanese cars again, share in Thailand falling down rapidly.

If India accelerates electrification, history will likely repeat, and this time, Japanese cars don't even have a place to flee, how to prevent will become the first problem for Japanese car companies.

Next talk about policy. India's policy is like a pot of curry, you never know if you will eat chicken or potato next time.

This magical country, today low tariff encourages building factories, tomorrow may fine you a huge amount. What's more annoying is mandatory joint venture. Foreign car companies want to sell cars in India, have to find local partners to partner up. When your factory is built, supply chain is done, India directly backstabs you. At that time whether adding money or withdrawing capital, what you get is heartache.

So you see, this market like India is like a mango that looks very sweet, bite the first mouth it's okay, chew two more mouths hit the hard core.

Japanese cars now is calculating, while the core hasn't bit the tooth, hurry up to nibble a few more mouths, but the core will bite sooner or later, just don't know which day.

Epilogue

Japanese cars this trip to India, not go for tourism, is go to make a living.

Chinese and Southeast Asian dining tables are more crowded, production and transportation costs have risen. Looking around the world, only this pot in India is still steaming, even if what is boiling inside is curry-flavored stones, have to bite hard and chew down.

Japanese car companies want to expand market, India wants to pull economy, solve employment, both sides have their own thoughts.

As for the ending is Japanese cars in India regain their glory, or like past competitors shamefully walk away, then is not known.

But no matter how, this play just started, we slowly watch is okay.

Anyway India's story, never bored.

BYD officially released the May 2026 production and sales flash report, with new energy vehicles from all brands reaching a monthly sales volume of 383,453 vehicles, a slight increase of 0.26% year-on-year, achieving year-on-year positive growth in monthly sales after ten months; among them, passenger car deliveries reached 376,990 units, surging 19.4% month-on-month, wiping out the pain of previous model iterations, presenting a new pattern where the domestic base is stable, overseas sales are soaring, and high-end brands are scaling up across the board. Amidst the market environment of intensified competition in the domestic new energy sector, Tesla FSD entering China, and an intense launch of independent new products, it has forged a unique structural growth path.

The Dynasty and Ocean main brands combined sold 330,215 vehicles in May, accounting for over 80% of the group's total sales, remaining the stabilizer for BYD's sales volume. The full series had 8 models exceeding 20,000 units in monthly sales, covering products from 50,000 entry-level commuter to 200,000 home SUV.

Inside the Dynasty Network, the Yuan family sold 56,691 units, and the Song family 51,370 units. Both crossed the 50,000 threshold, becoming two major sales pillars for the brand, catering to home commuter and urban-rural travel needs; the Qin family followed closely with a stable performance of 28,360 units. The Han and Tang series maintained a volume in the six-thousand range, deeply cultivating the mid-to-large home sedan and SUV niche markets; the brand new model Xia is in the market cultivation phase, delivering 1,810 units monthly, with potential for steady volume growth as channels expand.

The Ocean Network's growth momentum is even more rapid, with 5 models entering the 20,000 club across the series: Sealion 42,615 units, Seal 34,117 units, Seagull 39,919 units, Dolphin 22,260 units, and Song PLUS 27,755 units. Among them, Seagull remains the best-selling entry-level commuter model thanks to its affordable pricing of 60,000-80,000. Sealion, as a new volume model, stands firm at the 40,000 level upon launch, filling the mid-size SUV product gap in the Ocean Network and perfecting the Ocean product tier layout. From commuter small cars to compact SUVs, the two main brands rely on DM-i hybrid and pure electric dual-line technologies to牢牢锁住 the mainstream home market share within 150,000 domestically.

The high-end matrix of Denza, Fang Cheng Bao, and Yangwang sold a combined 46,489 vehicles in May, officially breaking away from the niche positioning to become a new pivot for BYD's brand premium and profit growth, breaking the industry curse of difficulty in high-end breakthrough for domestic brands.

The off-road brand Fang Cheng Bao sold 30,186 units monthly, surging 139.7% year-on-year, creating a new high in monthly sales since the brand launched. Its Titanium 7 model sold 18,280 units monthly, while Leopard 5 and Leopard 8 output remained stable, continuously squeezing the survival space for joint venture and imported models in the 250,000-400,000 hardcore off-road niche market.

Denza delivered 16,303 units in May, with the MPV benchmark D9 selling 6,721 units, and the Z9 series close to 6,000 units. MPV and mid-to-large sedan dual-line efforts helped them stand firm in the luxury new energy track; the million-level ultra-luxury brand Yangwang continued its steady climb, delivering 286 units that month, a year-on-year increase of 105.8%, completing market verification of the domestic brand ceiling product and forming a full price range product layout from 100,000+ home, 300,000-400,000 off-road, 500,000 luxury MPV to million-level flagship.

In May, BYD's overseas sales of passenger cars and pickup trucks reached 160,177 units, surging 80.7% year-on-year. Exports accounted for over 42% of the full series total sales, setting a new historical high for brand export and becoming the core driving force to stabilize May overall sales and achieve year-on-year positive growth.

Southeast Asia, Europe, and Latin America became the main incremental markets. Seagull, Song PLUS, and Yuan series continued to top new energy best-seller lists in multiple countries; the SHARK pickup truck exceeded 4,000 units in monthly exports for two consecutive months. Relying on the completion of localization production in Thailand, Brazil, Hungary, and Uzbekistan with four overseas vehicle factories, localized production continues to land, avoiding tariffs while rapidly penetrating terminal channels. Against the background of stock market competition in the domestic auto industry and normalized price wars, the rapidly expanding overseas market effectively counteracts sales volatility brought by domestic model iterations, officially upgrading from a supplementary market to BYD's core growth engine. As of now, BYD's global cumulative new energy vehicle sales have exceeded 16.5 million units, with the globalization map continuously broadening.

May marked a key node in BYD's intelligent driving landing, with the God's Eye intelligent driving system becoming a core bonus point for models: the number of vehicles with advanced intelligent driving across all brands exceeded 3.15 million, with daily road test data exceeding 200 million kilometers; that month, BYD implemented City Pilot and Smart Parking dual safety backup services, becoming the world's first auto manufacturer to achieve dual intelligent driving backups. Three days after policy implementation, the activation rate of models equipped with the God's Eye system in cities surged 50%. Intelligent driving experience upgrades directly drove in-store order conversion, solidifying product competitiveness for subsequent models to continue volume sales, and facing the intelligent driving market shock brought by FSD entering China.

From data details, BYD's cumulative sales from January to May 2026 were 1,405,039 units, down 20.32% year-on-year. The core reason is that the full series of main models were concentratedly iterated, and the capacity ramp-up of the 2nd Gen Fast Charge Blade Battery was restricted. The new Flash Charge Battery upgraded fast charging and low-temperature performance. Full series iteration models prioritized installing new batteries, but production line retrofitting dragged down capacity release. Order backlogs on popular models and delayed deliveries compressed the May delivery volume to a certain extent.

As the end of the second quarter approaches and the 2nd Gen Blade Battery capacity continues to release, coupled with new models such as Denza N8L, Fang Cheng Bao Titanium 7 Pure Electric Version, Sealion 05, and Xia L landing the market, the industry generally predicts that BYD's full brand sales in June are expected to exceed 400,000 vehicles. Relying on the four-dimension development logic of low-end volume locking share, high-end raising profit, overseas pushing volume, and intelligence improving product power, amidst the intensified new energy elimination round in the domestic market, BYD's full category layout advantage continues to amplify, securing its status as the domestic new energy leader, accelerating steadily towards global top auto manufacturers.

Have you ever seen the roads in India?

I've seen them online.

The scene is usually like this: a sedan blocked behind a cow, motorcycles running wild nearby, even milk tea vendors nearby, so "clean and hygienic".

However, in a place where many feel physically uncomfortable after watching, Toyota, Suzuki, Honda and other Japanese car companies decided to bet on India.

According to the Indian "Brand Quality Foundation" website, the three car companies will invest nearly $11 billion to build factories, increase capacity, and develop exports in India.

Some netizens commented: Did the three Japanese car companies have too much money?

In fact, they didn't have endless money to spend, nor were they bewildered by Indian curry. These Japanese car executives are much clearer than us.

Current Japanese car revenue and market share are declining. Raw material costs are soaring. Looking at the world map, finding a market that can accommodate capacity, expand share, and has gentle competition is not easy.

So, it wasn't that Japanese car companies chose India, but because they had no choice.

The Pain of Japanese Car Companies

Past Japanese cars were truly the envy of others.

Ask old drivers who drove Japanese cars over ten years ago, talking about Japanese cars, almost no one doesn't give a thumbs up, cheap price, fuel saving, durable...

Even many Japanese cars needed to be bought at a markup, but who would think this iron fortress would be beaten out of sight in a few short years.

With the wave of new energy vehicles coming, electrification and intelligence became the goal for many domestic car companies to "leapfrog". Relying on China's strong new energy vehicle industry chain advantages and car companies' own persistence on R&D and technology, Chinese independent brands quickly achieved "leapfrogging".

Domestic cars once criticized are now becoming more and more common on the roads, even surpassing joint ventures in share.

According to CPCA data, in April 2026, the share of independent brands reached as high as 62.5%, far exceeding Japan's 13.1%.

You need to know, the Chinese car market is the largest car market in the world. Losing speed in the Chinese market is like losing a huge piece of cake.

Meanwhile, the main theme of the Chinese market in recent years is still price wars. Racing on configuration, price, and service has become a normal state, which also had a huge impact on Japanese cars' profits.

Apart from China, Japanese cars are also not doing well in the US.

On January 20, 2025, Trump swore in as the 47th US President, starting a series of chaotic operations, including imposing additional car tariffs in the name of national security, causing the tariff rate for imported Japanese cars to reach as high as 27.5% at one point. Although it decreased later, it was still far higher than the initial tax rate.

This operation directly led to a tariff loss of over 2 trillion yen for seven Japanese car companies in fiscal year 2025.

Looking at Japan itself, it is actually not easy either.

Middle East geopolitical conflicts blocked shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, transportation costs and raw material costs soared, Japanese car companies also had to suffer in silence.

Executives looking at the reports, their backs went cold, only to find a new growth curve.

So, Japanese car companies didn't fall in love with India, there was nowhere else to go.

Deep Thought on Choosing India

So, what magic does India have, to make Japanese car companies invest heavily?

The first advantage is big. In 2025, the Indian car market achieved 5.517 million new car sales, up 6% year-on-year, breaking the historical record, ranking as the third largest car market in the world, exceeding Japan for four consecutive years, second only to China and the United States.

The value of this doesn't need me to say much. India achieved this result mainly because India has been promoting tax reduction policies to promote consumption, which led to a significant increase in domestic consumption willingness.

The second advantage is close, meaning it is close to places where Japanese cars sell well, such as Africa.

So, India for Japanese car companies is more like a convenience store built in the center of a crossroad. You don't need to ship cars to eight countries separately, just build well at this stop in India, then unload ship by ship, and you can save a lot of costs.

The Nikkei also believes that India is expected to become its global car supply center.

The third advantage is stability. You know, Japanese cars' advantage is fuel cars, after all, the three major components of engines, gearboxes, and chassis, they have played for many years, technology accumulation is number one in the world.

But the Chinese car market has fully promoted electrification and intelligence development, leading to Japanese cars' advantage becoming weaker and weaker, impossible to play out. But India is different, it has the characteristics of few charging piles and slow electrification process. Indian old people buying cars still look for cheap, fuel saving, easy to fix, and these three points are exactly Japanese cars' old trade.

Especially Suzuki, always been India's car market evergreen, almost always sitting on the best-selling model throne, reputation of being worry-free, better than any advertisement.

So, Japanese car companies' vigorous layout of the Indian market is obviously carefully considered.

But, is the Indian market really that easy to mix?

The Hard-to-Bite Indian Market

Of course, India is not perfect like a hot commodity, its disadvantages are as obvious as its advantages, and every one is enough for Japanese car companies to face a hard time.

First talk about electrification. Yes, right now India has few charging piles and electric cars don't sell well, it is indeed a shelter for Japanese fuel cars. But you have to think, how long can this "shelter" avoid?

India previously shouted the slogan of 30% of new cars being electric vehicles by 2030. Although it sounds like bragging, but can't help but they really give subsidies, really build charging stations.

Imagine, what if one day India suddenly wakes up, starts vigorously promoting electrification, doing infrastructure, charging piles popping out like mushrooms after rain, then Japanese cars will be dumbfounded?

Isn't this a version of the Thai market?

Back then Japanese cars in Thailand won easily. The entire Southeast Asian market was called Japanese cars' backyard. Result Thailand took the lead in promoting electrification. Chinese electric vehicles came in, directly became a hot commodity. Look at Japanese cars again, share in Thailand falling down rapidly.

If India accelerates electrification, history will likely repeat, and this time, Japanese cars don't even have a place to flee, how to prevent will become the first problem for Japanese car companies.

Next talk about policy. India's policy is like a pot of curry, you never know if you will eat chicken or potato next time.

This magical country, today low tariff encourages building factories, tomorrow may fine you a huge amount. What's more annoying is mandatory joint venture. Foreign car companies want to sell cars in India, have to find local partners to partner up. When your factory is built, supply chain is done, India directly backstabs you. At that time whether adding money or withdrawing capital, what you get is heartache.

So you see, this market like India is like a mango that looks very sweet, bite the first mouth it's okay, chew two more mouths hit the hard core.

Japanese cars now is calculating, while the core hasn't bit the tooth, hurry up to nibble a few more mouths, but the core will bite sooner or later, just don't know which day.

Epilogue

Japanese cars this trip to India, not go for tourism, is go to make a living.

Chinese and Southeast Asian dining tables are more crowded, production and transportation costs have risen. Looking around the world, only this pot in India is still steaming, even if what is boiling inside is curry-flavored stones, have to bite hard and chew down.

Japanese car companies want to expand market, India wants to pull economy, solve employment, both sides have their own thoughts.

As for the ending is Japanese cars in India regain their glory, or like past competitors shamefully walk away, then is not known.

But no matter how, this play just started, we slowly watch is okay.

Anyway India's story, never bored.