BYD, the name only recently associated with China’s biggest and best-performing manufacturer of NEVs (New Energy Vehicles), has posted a rather disheartening report for Q1 2026, stating a 52% sales drop compared to the same period of 2025.
To be specific, the company moved 308,476 vehicles and landed fourth in the national ranking. Geely headed the ranking with 406,949 vehicles and a 19.5% drop YoY. Volkswagen followed with a 15.4% decline and 386,282 units sold, and Toyota came third with a relatively light 5% decline, but only 326,489 units sold in Q1.
Taking a closer look at BYD’s sub-brands and their performance, Denza plummeted the hardest with a negative 46.9% compared to the same period the year before. On the upside, the budding brand FangChengBao a.k.a. Leopard gained 188%. And while Yangwang performed admirably on paper with a 96.6% sales increase over Q1 2025, it still only sold 945 vehicles in absolute terms.
Simultaneously with the report, BYD revealed that it shipped its 16,000,000th vehicle. As chance would have it, it was a fully electric Denza D9 minivan (see video).
