BYD sold 305,743 battery-electric cars in October 2026, its third monthly record in a row and the first month in which it has sold more than 300,000. The figure, from BYD's monthly filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange on 1 November, is 37.4% higher than a year earlier and 11.9% above September's previous record of 273,143.
Total new-energy vehicle sales rose 11.0% to 490,168.
The month in figures
| Measure | October 2026 | October 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| New-energy vehicles, total | 490,168 | 441,706 | +11.0% |
| Battery-electric (passenger) | 305,743 | 222,559 | +37.4% |
| Plug-in hybrid (passenger) | 177,382 | 214,297 | −17.2% |
| Commercial vehicles | 7,043 | 4,850 | +45.2% |
| Exports | 170,194 | — | −5.8% on September |
Pure electric is now two-thirds of BYD
Battery-electric cars made up 63.3% of BYD's passenger sales in October, against 50.9% a year earlier. Plug-in hybrids, the cars BYD built its scale on, fell 17.2%.
The ten-month totals show the same shift. BYD's battery-electric sales are up 5.9% to 1,935,700, its plug-in hybrids are down 11.0% to 1,625,969, and its total of 3,621,744 new-energy vehicles is 2.2% below last year's.
Exports eased, but the year's goal is already passed
Exports fell for a second month, to 170,194, from 180,700 in September and a record 189,466 in August. That still adds up. BYD had sold 1,342,960 cars outside China by the end of September; with October it passes 1.51 million, TeslAnt's sum. In August BYD told analysts it expected about 1.5 million overseas sales for the whole of 2026, above its official target of 1.3 million. It has reached that with two months to go.
What this means for Tesla
Tesla does not report monthly sales, so the only clean comparison is by quarter. BYD's October battery-electric sales alone equal 63% of the 486,532 cars Tesla delivered in the whole third quarter.
Over the first nine months of 2026, BYD sold 1,629,957 battery-electric cars. Tesla delivered 1,324,681, adding up its three quarterly reports. BYD's lead of about 305,000 is roughly one month of its current battery-electric sales. Tesla reports its fourth quarter in early January.
The comparison has limits. Most of BYD's volume is sold in China, much of it in cheaper segments where Tesla has no model.
In Europe this month
The first European October figures put both brands in the same table in Norway, the most electric market in Europe. There Tesla was first on 1,548 cars, only just ahead of Toyota, and BYD was seventh on 816, according to OFV.
BYD is also building its own fast-charging network in Europe. It unveiled its first Dutch Flash charging station on 29 October, and its Dutch stations will be open to cars of other brands.