BYD’s Great Tang Orders Top 100,000, but a 55% Profit Plunge and Labour Allegations Cloud the Picture

BYD’s new Great Tang SUV has crossed 100,000 pre-orders, a clear sign of consumer appetite for the company’s premium push. The milestone, announced on 7 May by sales chief Lu Tian, follows a blistering start: more than 30,000 reservations came in within 24 hours of the 24 April launch, and the order book has since more than tripled. Yet the product momentum stands in stark contrast to a first quarter that saw net profit crash 55% to 4.08 billion yuan and revenue slide 12% to 150.2 billion yuan — the fourth consecutive quarter of declining earnings.

The Great Tang is BYD’s most ambitious assault on the premium segment to date. The full-size SUV starts at 250,000 yuan (roughly $36,700) and tops out at 320,000 yuan. It measures 5,263 mm in length, seats seven in a 2+2+3 configuration, and packs second-generation Blade battery technology, a 1,000-volt architecture, lidar-based driver assistance, a 3-nanometre cockpit chip, and a 27-speaker Devialet audio system. The CLTC-rated range is up to 950 km.

Domestically, the pressure is relentless. April sales in China fell to 314,100 vehicles, down 15.7% year-on-year — the eighth straight monthly decline. Subsidies that once propped up demand have been withdrawn, and rivals such as Geely and Xiaomi are squeezing margins with aggressive pricing. In March, BYD’s price cuts hit their highest level in two years, eroding per-vehicle profitability. First-quarter domestic deliveries dropped to 303,150 units, a roughly 61% plunge from the same period last year.

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The export engine is firing, however. April set a new record for overseas shipments, and in the first quarter, new registrations in the EU, the European Free Trade Association and the UK surged more than 155% year-on-year. BYD sold 12,754 EVs in the UK through April — overtaking Tesla, Kia and Volkswagen — and now commands a market share above 7%. In Brazil, the company became the best-selling car brand overall in April, edging out Volkswagen by about 80 units with 14,911 vehicles. In Australia, the Sealion 7 was the month’s top-selling EV with 1,780 deliveries. Overall, BYD sold roughly 700,000 vehicles in the first quarter, with about 45% going to export markets. That mix is supporting average selling prices: automotive revenue fell only 16% despite a steeper volume decline.

The stock tells a sobering story. In Hong Kong, BYD (1211) closed at HK$98.90 on 6 May, down 8.7% for the week and far below the 52-week high of HK$159.27. The quarterly earnings missed analyst estimates by more than 26% on earnings per share.

Adding to the headwinds, BYD is facing fresh political scrutiny in Europe. The European Parliament has publicly raised labour-rights concerns — the first time it has done so regarding a Chinese company. The trigger was a 14 April report by China Labor Watch alleging that thousands of construction workers at BYD’s plant in Szeged, Hungary, were labouring daily in shifts exceeding 12 hours. One subcontractor involved is a subsidiary of the Jinjiang Construction Group, the same group linked to a scandal at BYD’s Brazilian factory in 2024. BYD said at the time it had ended its relationship with the Brazilian Jinjiang affiliate. It has not commented on the Hungary allegations.

Whether the Great Tang’s order book can translate into a genuine turnaround depends on conversion rates after the SUV hits the market in the first half of 2026. The segment is getting crowded: Chery unveiled the Tiggo X in early May, boasting 476 hp and a claimed combined range of 1,500 km. For BYD, the export boom is real, but it has yet to prove it can mask the structural damage at home and the mounting headwinds in Europe. The half-year results will be the next test.

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