BYD's October Sales Hit 490,168 as BEVs Break 300,000 for the First Time

BYD just posted its strongest month of 2026 — and for the first time in its history, fully electric passenger car sales crossed the 300,000 mark. The Shenzhen automaker moved 490,168 new energy vehicles in October, a 10.97% gain year-on-year and 5.74% better than September.

It is the sixth straight month of year-on-year growth for the company. Yet the pace is cooling: the growth rate has now eased for three consecutive months, down from 16.98% in September.

The Mix Is Tilting Electric

The headline number hides a bigger story. Battery electric passenger vehicles accounted for 63.28% of the brand’s passenger car deliveries in October, up sharply from 59.81% a month earlier and barely half (50.95%) a year ago.

BEV volume landed at 305,743 units, a 37.38% jump year-on-year and 11.94% above September — a record for the third month running.

Plug-in hybrids went the other way. PHEV deliveries came in at 177,382 units, down 17.23% year-on-year and 3.37% month-on-month. That is the second consecutive annual decline for the plug-in side, and it is deepening.

October Snapshot: 490,168 NEVs total · 305,743 passenger BEVs (+37.38% YoY) · 177,382 passenger PHEVs (−17.23% YoY) · 170,194 exports (+102.84% YoY)

Domestic Slump, Overseas Surge

The export engine is doing heavy lifting. BYD shipped 170,194 NEVs abroad in October, more than double the figure from a year earlier, though that was 5.81% below September’s tally. For the January–October window, overseas volume reached 1,513,154 units, up 93.75%.

At home, the picture is less rosy. Domestic sales totaled 319,974 vehicles in October, a 10.57% year-on-year drop, even if it marked a 13.12% recovery over September. Year-to-date domestic volume of 2,108,590 is down 27.81%.

Where the Year Stands

• Ten-month NEV total: 3,621,744 units, down 2.16% year-on-year — an improvement on the 3.94% decline seen through September
• Passenger BEVs: 1,935,700 units, up 5.86%
• Passenger PHEVs: 1,625,969 units, down 11.02%
• Commercial NEVs: 60,075 units, up 30.22%

October’s total ranks as the fourth-highest month on record for BYD, trailing only the three months of Q4 2024.

Fresh Metal on the Way

BYD hasn’t been sitting still on product. The second-generation Seagull arrived on October 20 with a larger body and flash charging on selected trims. A week later, the third-generation Qin Plus DM-i landed, bringing a bigger shell and more electric-only range to the brand’s plug-in family sedan.

Whether those refreshes can reverse the domestic slide is the question hanging over the fourth quarter. The export curve, at least, is still climbing.