BYD's overseas expansion is now playing out on two very different fronts.

With the release of 2025 sales figures, there were few surprises: BYD once again emerged as the clear leader among China’s domestic carmakers. Yet more striking than its total annual sales of 4.6024 million vehicles was another milestone—2.26 million of them were fully electric. That achievement propelled BYD to the top of the global pure-EV rankings, displacing Tesla from a position it had long dominated. This first-ever overtake carries significance beyond a simple change in numbers, signalling the arrival of a new “China force” at the very apex of the global electric vehicle market.

BYD's release of what it describes as China's first mass-produced 2.0-litre turbocharged horizontally opposed engine has attracted attention because it seems, at first glance, to run against the direction of the industry.