BYD Sales Crash Hard in February — CHARTS

Continuing on the trend for much of the Chinese EV market in 2026, and even increasing it a bit compared to the tough month of January, BYD’s sales crashed in February year over year. Larry Evans wrote a great piece last month on potential reasons or explanations for the sales drop, adding optimism for the months ahead. That still applies, so check that piece out if you haven’t read it yet. Also, the Chinese New Year was in the middle of February this year, whereas it started on January 29 last year. Nonetheless, just reporting on what has actually happened, we have to say that BYD’s sales were down considerably in the second month of the year.

Note: Charts in this article are displayed in two different ways — as static images and as embedded, interactive charts. We do this because some formats show better on some devices and others show better on other devices.

BYD’s pure electric passenger vehicle sales were down 36.3% in February year over year, ending at 79,539. Combined with January, sales were down 35% year over year. That said, they are slightly above January plus February 2024 sales. So, are we returning to 2024 levels? Or is this a blip that will soon be forgotten as BYD revives much higher sales in the rest of the year?

Looking at the company’s plugin hybrid (PHEV) sales, they weren’t any better. In fact, they were worse! They were down 44% year over year in February, and combining January and February sales, they were down 36.7%. Total PHEV sales in February came to 108,243.

Combining new energy vehicle (NEV) passenger vehicle sales, naturally, it’s basically the same story. At 187,782 sales, they were down 41% from the same month last year, and down 36% if you combine January and February.

Overall, the trend is clear, with the beginning of this year being a couple of totally chopped off bars that collapse BYD’s numbers.

In terms of larger, commercial vehicle sales, the story wasn’t much better. The company’s bus (all electric) sales were down 26.3% year over year in February, with 334 deliveries, but they were up 5% if you combine January and February.

As far as non-bus commercial vehicle sales, those were down 50.1% in February, at 2,074, and they were down 22.6% across the first two months of the year.

So, I’m sure BYD is turning the page quickly to March and looking for ways to bounce back. Let’s see.