BYD’s Hungarian Headache Deepens as Exports Hit a Record, but Home Sales Keep Slipping
Published on 07/22/2026 at 16:42 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
BYD finds itself in a peculiar spot: its overseas business is booming like never before, yet political turbulence in Hungary and a deepening slump at home are testing investor patience. The Chinese electric-vehicle giant sold 175,349 vehicles outside China in June 2026, a staggering 94.73 percent jump from a year earlier and a fresh all-time high. Over the first half of the year, international deliveries surged 70.65 percent to 792,256 units, accounting for 43.81 percent of the company’s total sales. The export momentum has been so strong that BYD vice-chair Li Ke told the BBC the company could thrive without ever entering the US market, noting that demand is already outstripping production capacity.
The contrast with BYD’s home market could hardly be starker. Domestic sales plunged 39.57 percent in the first half of 2026, with June alone down 22.02 percent. The Qin family, once a cornerstone of BYD’s lineup, saw deliveries collapse 66.17 percent year-on-year to just 14,900 units in June. To revive interest, BYD on July 22 released interior images of the new Qin Max, a mid-size sedan measuring 4,866 millimeters with a 2,820-millimeter wheelbase. The model, expected to launch on August 13, will be offered as a pure EV with either a 240-kW or 120-kW motor, or as a plug-in hybrid pairing a 1.5-liter combustion engine with a 175-kW electric motor.
Hungary Probe Casts a Shadow Over Europe’s Linchpin
The political drama unfolding in Hungary threatens to complicate BYD’s European ambitions. Former foreign minister Péter Szijjártó, who negotiated BYD’s first European factory deal while still in office, has since joined the automaker as a senior executive overseeing external relations and business development. Hungary’s new government under Prime Minister Péter Magyar announced on July 21 that it would review all subsidies, tax breaks, permits, and decisions tied to BYD’s investment in the country. The probe follows concerns raised by Transparency International about a classic “revolving door” problem — Hungary has no cooling-off period for ministers who move to companies they once dealt with.
Inspectors have already begun their work. On July 21, Hungarian authorities visited BYD’s Szeged plant to examine residence permits, social security records, and employment contracts, according to the South China Morning Post. BYD declined to comment. The Szeged facility is the centerpiece of BYD’s European strategy: a €4 billion investment with an initial annual capacity of 200,000 vehicles, slated to begin production in the fourth quarter of 2026. The site also includes a European headquarters and research center in Budapest, backed by €55 million in state aid, with a total investment of roughly €250 million tied to 2,000 jobs and patent filings. Local production allows BYD to sidestep the EU’s 17.0 percent tariff on Chinese-made EVs.
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Australian Recall Adds to the Headache
Separately, BYD is dealing with customer backlash in Australia. The company sold around 1,200 units of the Atto 3, Sealion 8, and Shark 6 as 2026 model-year vehicles, even though they were built in 2025. After an independent review, BYD raised its compensation offer from A$1,100 to A$3,500 per vehicle. Some 72 percent of affected customers accepted the payment; the remainder were offered a full refund or a vehicle swap. An additional 2,850 vehicles were correctly reclassified as 2025 models.
Stock Stalls Despite Recent Rally
BYD shares traded at €9.86 on the day of the probe announcement, down 1.25 percent, and remain 33.41 percent below their 52-week high of €14.80 reached on July 22, 2025. Year-to-date, the stock is off 7.94 percent. A 30-day rally of 13.26 percent had offered some relief, but the Hungarian investigation has reintroduced uncertainty. The stock closed at €9.98 on Tuesday, down 0.87 percent, and still sits 6.01 percent below its 200-day moving average — a sign that the broader downtrend has not yet been broken.
Global Ambitions Meet Home-Market Reality
BYD overtook Tesla last year as the world’s largest seller of battery-electric vehicles, moving 2.25 million units in 2025 — a 28 percent increase — while Tesla’s deliveries fell 9 percent to 1.64 million. The company’s growth has since slowed to its weakest pace in five years, even as overseas markets surge. European sales jumped 156 percent in the first quarter of 2026, and UK volumes soared 880 percent through September 2025. BYD is targeting 1.5 million overseas sales in 2026 and expects to exceed that figure. Chairman Wang Chuanfu reiterated at the June shareholder meeting that BYD aims to become the world’s largest automaker by volume by 2030.
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Pricing power abroad remains a key advantage. A BYD Atto 3 sells for over $41,000 in Germany, compared with under $20,000 in China. EU tariffs and sporadic quality issues are the main hurdles to further expansion, according to market observers. For now, BYD’s story is one of two speeds: record-breaking exports and a home market in retreat, all while a political probe in Hungary threatens the very factory designed to secure its European future.
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