BYD wants to double output at its Brazilian plant — just as 14 European lawmakers ask the European Commission to assess whether its cars pose a security risk. BYD is seeking regulatory approval to double annual capacity at its Brazilian plant to 600,000 vehicles, from about 300,000, according to ad-hoc-news, reporting at 10:30 CET on Monday, November 9, and citing media reports. The approval has not yet been granted — it is a request, not a done deal — and it is the latest sign of how fast the Chinese carmaker is expanding overseas. The expansion push comes as BYD’s exports do the heavy lifting. The company sold about 490,000 new-energy vehicles in October, up about 11% year on year — a record month — with exports of about 170,000, up 102.84% year on year, more than doubling. The January-to-October total is about 3.6 million, down 2.16% year on year, as soft demand at home and a price war in China hold back the domestic market. Overseas sales are now about 43% of deliveries, against about 21% a year ago.
Europe asks questions
In Europe, 14 members of the European Parliament wrote on Wednesday, November 4, asking the European Commission to assess whether BYD vehicles pose security risks and to weigh restrictions, including barring BYD from public procurement, according to Reuters. This is a request for a review — not an announced EU restriction — and BYD has responded that its vehicle and cloud data cannot be accessed remotely from China. The European numbers explain why the question is being asked. In Europe from January to September, BYD sold 283,997 vehicles, up 134.6%, against Tesla’s 260,575, up 50% — BYD ahead by 23,422, with a 2.7% share against Tesla’s 2.5%, according to ACEA data via CAM. In Germany, BYD sold 18,716 battery-electric cars from January to October, up 140.9%, in a market where battery-electrics were 698,230, up 60.7%, and 28.2% of all new cars.
Profits miss forecasts
Not everyone is convinced by the growth. BYD’s third-quarter net profit was 10.02 billion yuan, up 28% year on year, on revenue of 221.5 billion yuan, up 13.6% — but it missed analyst forecasts of 11.4 to 12.95 billion yuan, and January-to-September profit is still down 4.24% year on year. The company spent 36.3 billion yuan on research and development in the first nine months of 2026 — more than its net profit of 22.3 billion yuan over the same period, according to executive vice-president He Zhiqi. For buyers, the Brazil expansion and the European review are two sides of the same story: BYD is now one of the world’s biggest car exporters, and its overseas growth is the story of its year — but the bigger it gets abroad, the more questions it faces. The full-year sales total is expected to be “slightly above last year”, according to BYD brand chief Li Yunfei, quoted on Monday.
Related: Tesla is winding down Cybertruck production to make room for robotaxis.
