One million cars exported, triple-digit growth and illustrious overtaking. BYD impresses, but the data only tells part of the story.
December 25, 2025
BYD we are about to close 2025 with a symbolic and very important milestone on an industrial level: one million vehicles exported in just one year. According to the latest data released on December 23rd and taken from Car News Chinain November the Chinese manufacturer shipped abroad 128,067 carswith a leap of +313.4% on an annual basis and of +59.9% compared to October.
In the period January–November 2025BYD’s exports have already reached quota 878,498 unitsmarking an increase in +144% compared to the same period in 2024 and more than doubling the result of the entire last year. At this point, even assuming a December in line with November, exceeding the one million threshold appears practically a given.
Numbers impressivewhich confirm the speed with which the Chinese group is scaling international markets. Howeverit is essential to clarify a point often overlooked in the European debate: we are talking about exports, not sales to the end customer.
Export does not mean registrations
I data released refers to vehicles shipped out of Chinanot to the cars actually registered in the individual markets. It’s a crucial distinction, because l’export measures the production and logistics capacity of a manufacturer, but it does not reflect the real question nor the uptake of the product by consumers.
In other words: an exported car can remain for months in port yards, logistics centers or dealer stocks. This does not reduce the industrial result of BYDbut invites further reading prudentespecially when these numbers are used to describe an alleged commercial “domination” already achieved in Europe.
The comparison with Chery and the weight of the powertrains
Nthe November ranking, Chery remains China’s top exporter with 135,190 vehicles, ahead of BYD by a few thousand units. But the comparison is interesting for two reasons.
The first is technological: Chery largely exports cars with combustion engineswhile BYD is focused exclusively on NEV (electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles). The second is dynamic: the gap between the two brands is rapidly closing, so much so that it would not be surprising to see BYD overtake Chery as early as December. In cumulative January–November, Chery leads with 1.19 million vehiclesbut BYD is now firmly second and growing very strongly.
According to the data reported, BYD is the leader in sales of new energy vehicles in countries such as Brazil, Türkiye, Spain and Italyand even the first overall brand in Singapore and Hong Kong. Furthermore, it would surpass Tesla in 2025 eleven key marketsincluding the UK, Germany and Italy.
Here too, however, the same caution applies: the comparison methodologies vary from market to market and often mix wholesale sales, retail and registrationsmaking the picture less uniform than it might seem at first reading.
| Rank | Manufacturer | Export volume (vehicles) | YoY change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chery | 1,188,337 | +14.0% |
| 2 | BYD | 878,498 | +144.0% |
| 3 | SAIC Passenger Vehicles | 481,239 | -1.5% |
| 4 | Great Wall Motor | 390,578 | +6.9% |
| 5 | Geely | 378,594 | +4.8% |
| 6 | Changan | 276,156 | +4.8% |
| 7 | Tesla China | 222,706 | -10.5% |
| 8 | SAIC-GM-Wuling | 217,978 | +22.7% |
| 9 | Jiangsu Yueda Kia | 159,650 | +4.0% |
| 10 | Dongfeng | 114,233 | +110.4% |
| 11 | JAC | 108,596 | -13.8% |
| 12 | GAC Trumpchi | 66,615 | -21.7% |
| 13 | Beijing Hyundai | 60,514 | +76.0% |
| 14 | Volvo Asia Pacific | 60,503 | -60.1% |
| 15 | Changan Ford | 56,725 | -9.5% |
| 16 | Leap motor | 53,685 | +1019.6% |
| 17 | JMC Ford | 49,543 | n/a |
| 18 | Spotlight | 48,745 | n/a |
| 19 | SAIC-GM | 42,442 | -36.9% |
| 20 | Polestar | 41,409 | +2.8% |
Source: CarNewsChina
