BYD’s Great Tang SUV Frenzy Can’t Mask the Cracks at Home

A hundred thousand reservations in under two weeks for a new electric SUV might sound like a triumph. For BYD, the Great Tang’s blockbuster launch is a welcome shot of adrenaline, but it does little to change the underlying story: the Chinese auto giant is fighting a brutal two-front war, and the home front is bleeding.

The seven-seat flagship, priced from around €34,000, has become an instant sensation. BYD sales chief Lu Tian confirmed on May 7 that pre-orders had smashed through the 100,000 barrier, a stunning reversal for a model line that managed barely 1,800 domestic sales in March — a collapse of over 75% year-on-year. The new Great Tang packs a high-voltage architecture promising nearly 1,000 kilometres of range and a ten-minute rapid charge, technology designed to reclaim lost ground in a market now defined by cutthroat competition.

Yet the euphoria around the order book stands in stark contrast to the numbers that matter most to investors. BYD delivered roughly 314,000 passenger vehicles in China in April, marking the eighth consecutive monthly decline and a drop of nearly 16% from a year earlier. A ruinous price war, the withdrawal of state subsidies, and rising hardware costs along the supply chain have carved deep into margins. First-quarter net profit more than halved to around €550 million, a figure that underscores the severity of the squeeze.

Management has tried to fight back, raising prices for optional autonomous-driving software upgrades by over a fifth. But the core problem remains: the domestic market is shrinking even as BYD’s global ambitions reach new heights.

Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying BYD?

That global push is, by any measure, a roaring success. In April, the company shipped a record 134,542 vehicles overseas — a jump of nearly 71% from the same month last year. Exports now account for almost 43% of monthly sales. In the UK, BYD became the best-selling electric vehicle brand in the first four months of the year, overtaking Tesla, BMW, and Volkswagen to capture more than 7% market share. In Brazil, it recently seized the overall vehicle sales lead for the first time, leapfrogging Volkswagen.

But even as the export engine revs, fresh headwinds are gathering in Europe. EU lawmakers have called on the European Commission to investigate reports of poor working conditions at the construction site of BYD’s new factory in Szeged, Hungary. The watchdog China Labor Watch has accused subcontractors of forcing workers into seven-day weeks and shifts exceeding twelve hours. One of the construction firms involved belongs to a group already embroiled in a 2024 scandal over slave-like labour conditions in Brazil. The Szeged plant, designed to produce 300,000 cars annually, is the linchpin of BYD’s European expansion strategy — and the allegations threaten to tarnish its reputation just as it gains traction in the region.

The stock market has taken a cautious view. BYD’s Hong Kong-listed shares have slipped nearly 9% over the past week and now trade just below the HK$100 mark, far from the record high reached in May 2025. The volatility reflects a market struggling to reconcile the company’s operational strengths with the mounting pressures on its domestic business.

BYD at a turning point? This analysis reveals what investors need to know now.

Analysts, however, remain bullish. Citigroup maintains a buy rating with a price target of HK$142, betting that core operating profit could rebound to as much as 11.3 billion renminbi in the second quarter. That forecast hinges on two conditions: sustained export momentum and a stabilisation of selling prices in China. Neither is guaranteed.

The Great Tang’s pre-orders are a promising signal, but deliveries won’t begin until the first half of 2026. By then, rivals like Chery will have launched their own flagship SUVs — the Tiggo X boasts a combined range of 1,500 kilometres and targets the same buyers. BYD’s home-market recovery is far from assured, and the gap between its global success and domestic struggles remains as wide as ever.

Ad

BYD Stock: New Analysis - 9 May

Fresh BYD information released. What's the impact for investors? Our latest independent report examines recent figures and market trends.

Read our updated BYD analysis...

en | CNE100000296 | BYD’S | boerse | 69295863 |