BYD Update – the Good, the BAD and the Adorable? (Nov. 2025)
BID update for November. Looking back at the previous month’s sales to see if they’ve returned to growth, some manufacturing news, and because Q3 is now in the books, we have some concerning financials to summarize. And I’ll also run through some product news as there’s a new member to their ocean series, joining the Seagull, Dolphin, Seal, the popular Sea Line series, and the Shark 6 is getting a prequel. [Music] First up is some product news. I did an in-depth look at the KC car market in Japan and the battery EV that BYD specifically developed to compete in that segment called the Raku, which is Japanese for sea otter. Okay, I’m done with the animal noises. No more in this video. Highlevel summary. Japan has always been a tough market to crack for imports, and it’s a terrible market for electric vehicles, but BYYD and Tesla seem to think that they can change that. Domestic manufacturers Honda, Nissan, and Mitsubishi have their own battery EV models in the KC car segment. So, their research also seems to indicate that maybe it’s set up for growth. Requirements of the Kar segment limit the size and power of the vehicle. So, it’ll ultimately come down to battery size versus range versus price and styling. BYD is also starting to bring their plug-in hybrid models to Japan. The popular Sea Lion 6 DMI will be offered, bringing the number to six models announced with more coming. It’s going to be a long process to build awareness and boost opinion of the BYYD brand in Japan. But BYD is not the kind of company to give up easily. And speaking of the Sea Lion 6, reports are that BYD will soon announce a four-door pickup version of it. Kind of like a Baby Shark. No. Nope. I’m not going to play the Doot Doot song. Since the original Shark took on the Shark 6 name, I’m guessing this one will be called the Shark 5. Expected to be offered as a PvE with their DMI technology. Thus, the front grill spotted on the test vehicle for the engine. Perhaps a full battery EV could be offered later. The Shark 6 is finally going to be sold inside China. So, I would expect the Baby Shark to join it as well, with both models being sold in pickup markets like Australia, Southeast Asia, Europe, Central, and South America. Not in the US, of course. There is the so-called chicken tax, which restricts imports of pickups for decades. And now on top of that, whatever double or tripledigit tariffs there are, maybe Mexico will get it. And stick around to the end of this video because we need to talk about O Canada. BYD recorded their Q3 financials and the numbers show the impact of the intense competition within China. Profits for the quarter are down over 32% year-over-year. If you recall last year, their PEVs were selling like hot dim sum in China. and not because they were giving them away. They rad in the profits. This year, however, BYD has had to manage their desire to show continued sales growth with profitability. So, revenue took a small hit, down 3.1% year-over-year. The first such decline for BYD in more than 5 years, but profitability took a pounding. They’ve taken a huge bite out of their profit margins to keep sales close to last year. That’s because their competition is not calling for a ceasefire in this price war. Western brands like GM, Volkswagen, and Honda with their JVS in China are losing market share to the Chinese brand. And it now looks like BYD, the market leader in NEVs, is also being hunted by the likes of Gilly, Leap Motor, and dozens of other brands. BYD’s September market share stood at 14%, down from 18% the same period last year. In last month’s update, I mentioned that BYYD lowered its sales target for the year by nearly a million units, down to 4.6 million. Sales of battery EVs and plug-in hybrids both had their best monthly sales of the year. Bevs were up 8.5% month overmonth and up 17% year-over-year. PEVs were up 14% month-over-month, but down 31% from that sales spike they had last year. BYD is positioning itself to grow sales outside of the intense China market. Overseas sales in October were better than at any time during Q2 and up one and a half times from last year. Sales in Europe through August are up 280% from the same period last year. And at the IAA mobility show, they outlined plans to grow their sales operations in Germany to maintain that growth pace. Continued sales growth overseas won’t come easy. As a percent of total sales, 19% is better last month, but not quite over the 20% threshold that they want to stay above. All in all, a good month, but clearly they’re cutting into their margins to keep their sales growing. And if BYD can balance growth with profitability, then maybe we can talk more about ramping up their manufacturing footprint. Last month, we talked about Hungary slowly starting production at the end of this year. Turkey starting next year. Reports are that Spain is in the frontr runner position if BYD decides to break ground on a third Europe plant. Their plant in Brazil is pumping out vehicles to grow sales in South America. BYD Thailand is humming along now to grow sales in Southeast Asia. And BYD Canada is planning to BYD Canada, let’s go to the map. BYD set up a small CKD operation in Ontario to assemble transit buses for use in Toronto back in 2019. Details are sketchy, but it was only like 30 to 40 jobs during the production run, which seems to have ended. Canada stood alongside the US by restricting sales of Chinese EVs with a 100% tariff. Just like the Biden administration, the US and Canada are basically the only places on Earth where you can’t buy a BYD passenger vehicle. But let’s just say Canada is open to dating other people. Tariffs by the Trump administration have not resulted in any new assembly plants being announced in the US, but it has resulted in the Detroit 3 taking some production from Canada and Mexico and squeezing it into their existing US plants. Bmpton, Ontario was set to make the allnew Jeep Compass. Now that will go into the idol Belvadier plant in Illinois and Bmpton will remain idle. GM announced the Ingresol plant that was making the Bright Drop electric van will stop making them and they will explore other options, leaving the workers there on thin ice. The Stalantis LG Energy joint venture to make batteries in Windsor is off to a slow start as they scale back plans for electric vehicles in North America. Suffice it to say, Ontario got checked in the back and went face first into the boards. No penalty was called. So it should surprise none of us that Prime Minister Mark Carney has been meeting with other world leaders to negotiate trade deals, including the possibility of lowering tariffs from the current 100% on top of the original 6.1% tariff to something much less. Reports are that this could be in exchange for China buying more canola oil from Canada again. Sales of that plummeted during an earlier trade dispute. This is not a done deal between the two nations and there are political pressures inside Canada as well since their auto industry is concentrated in Ontario while canola is grown in the western provinces and this could all just be a negotiation tool to get the US to revise the USMCA. Ideally for Canada, they would lower tariffs on imported EVs just a little and then lower them more for companies who are willing to invest in local manufacturing. It’s difficult since the Canada market is not huge and sales to the US would face tariffs now and they’d probably get more added on top of that just out of spite. Still interesting development to keep an eye on. And if it does happen, then soon I can take that gorgeous new Gordy How Bridge into Canada to go check out the latest BYD’s EVs. Just maybe. We’ll see.
BYD Update summarizing sales, products and news from the month of October 2025.
#byd #electricvehicle #electricvehicles #china #canada
0:00 – BYD Update for November 2025
0:40 – BYD Racoo for Japan
1:50 – BYD Shark 5 Ute? (Baby Shark)
2:55 – BYD Q3 2025 Financials
4:03 – BYD October 2025 Sales
5:25 – BYD Manufacturing locations
5:57 – BYD in Canada?
