BYD reported second-quarter net profit of 8.2 billion yuan (about $1.2 billion), up roughly 30 percent year-over-year and ending four consecutive quarters of decline, according to figures derived from the company’s first-half earnings filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. It’s a real rebound, but a lopsided one: revenue for the quarter actually fell about 3 percent to 194.6 billion yuan (roughly $29 billion), meaning BYD made noticeably more money on noticeably fewer total sales — a pattern that traces directly back to where those sales are coming from.
The Numbers Behind The Rebound
BYD
According to CarNewsChina, BYD sold 1.81 million new energy vehicles for the first half of 2026, down nearly 16 percent from a year earlier, in what the company called its first interim earnings drop in six years. But that overall decline masks a sharp split: domestic sales kept falling, while exports climbed 68-71 percent (depending on the measure) to roughly 790,000 vehicles — now representing 44 percent of total volume and 53 percent of total group revenue. Overseas business alone posted a 22 percent gross margin in the first half, nearly 2 points higher than a year ago, while overall company margin improved to 18.85 percent. Exports weren’t just filling a gap; they were the more profitable half of the business.
Exports Aren’t Just Offsetting Weakness — They’re Driving It
The scale of the shift shows up clearest in the monthly numbers: BYD exported more cars in April alone than Tesla is estimated to have sold worldwide that same month, and by June and July, single-month export records were falling in quick succession, with July hitting 179,841 units — up 124 percent year-over-year. In Europe specifically, BYD has been quietly outselling Tesla in the region’s biggest EV markets for months, registering 174,144 vehicles in the first half against Tesla’s 170,351 — though that comparison counts BYD’s plug-in hybrids alongside its EVs, while Tesla sells battery-electric only.
BYD
Domestic China Isn’t Getting Any Easier
Back home, the picture is far less encouraging. China’s overall passenger car market fell 20 percent in the first half, and BYD hasn’t escaped the brutal price war that’s been squeezing margins across the entire Chinese auto industry, with rivals like Xiaomi and Geely undercutting on price. “Exports are really where the carmaker is finding some relief,” eToro analyst Zavier Wong said. Whether that relief holds depends on factors increasingly outside BYD’s control — rising tariffs in some export markets, and mounting marketing and R&D costs that come with expanding into dozens of new countries at once.