The Chinese electric-vehicle giant is executing a global expansion on two fronts: a second European assembly plant is nearing a decision while a Brazilian factory just rolled out its 100,000th vehicle. The twin moves underscore BYD’s determination to offset a weakening home market, but the stock remains under pressure from its 52-week high.
The Camaçari complex in Bahia state, BYD’s largest facility outside China, produced the landmark BYD Seagull on 16 July 2026. Spread across 4.6 million square metres and employing more than 5,500 workers, the plant started production in July 2025 with an investment of 5.5 billion Brazilian reais. Initial annual capacity of 150,000 vehicles will expand to 300,000 once full local manufacturing — including a press shop, body shop and paint shop — comes online from August. BYD aims to hit a 50% localisation rate by early 2027 and become Brazil’s best-selling auto brand by 2030. It already ranks fourth in the country, having sold over 100,000 units in the first half of 2026, ahead of Hyundai. The company also has export orders for 100,000 vehicles bound for Argentina and Mexico.
In Europe, the decision on a second passenger-car plant is expected “very soon,” according to Alfredo Altavilla, BYD’s special adviser for the region. Spain and France are the front-runners for acquiring an existing factory. The first European facility in Szeged, Hungary, is still installing equipment and will not begin mass production until the fourth quarter of 2026. A planned plant in Turkey, announced with a $1 billion investment, remains on hold without a timeline.
The urgency stems from surging European sales: BYD’s volumes on the continent jumped 270% in 2025 to nearly 188,000 vehicles, and in the first five months of 2026 they doubled to over 100,000 units. Globally, BYD sold 1.81 million electric and hybrid vehicles in the first half of 2026, a 15.7% drop from a year earlier as China’s price war and reduced subsidies slashed domestic sales by almost 40%. Exports, however, climbed 70.7% to 792,256 vehicles. June was particularly strong: domestic wholesale rose 5.46% to 403,472 units — the second consecutive month of growth — while overseas sales hit a record 175,349 vehicles, accounting for more than 43% of total deliveries.
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BYD now targets full-year 2026 sales of 5.0 to 5.5 million vehicles and has raised its export goal to 1.5 million, up from 1.05 million in 2025. Chairman Wang Chuanfu told shareholders in June that the company aims to become the world’s largest automaker by volume within three to five years. Outside China, BYD also operates factories in Thailand and Indonesia. The international push extends beyond production: a global partnership with Paris Saint-Germain runs through June 2029, and the company is exploring a Formula 1 entry with talks about an electrified V8 engine regulation.
The share price, however, reflects the misgivings of investors still focused on China’s headwinds. The stock closed at €9.90 on Friday, down 1.75% on the day but up 3.68% for the week and 9.39% over the past month. It remains 33.11% below the 52-week high of €14.80 set in July 2025, and the 200-day moving average of €10.64 is still 6.94% above the current level. Over the trailing 12 months, BYD shareholders have lost 36% of their investment. The trailing price-to-earnings ratio of 22.6 is below the EV peer average of 26.0 but well above the broader auto industry’s 14.9, indicating the market continues to assign a growth premium even after the recent correction.
Adding a note of caution to the Brazil success story, a union meeting on 9 July raised allegations of moral and sexual harassment at the Camaçari site, with reports of hundreds of cases. BYD denied the scale, saying the union leader only referred to isolated incidents, and reiterated a zero-tolerance policy with an anonymous reporting channel. The union is also demanding a 15% wage increase, a meal allowance of 850 reais, and concrete anti-harassment measures.
For now, BYD’s international factory drive is the most visible part of a strategy that must balance overseas momentum against domestic stagnation. The coming weeks will bring clarity on the European site, while the Brazilian expansion shifts from assembly to full manufacturing — steps that are vital to sustaining the export growth that has become the company’s primary engine.
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