EV giant BYD is headquartered in Shenzhen, China. The guests coming here got to see a performance. Ordinary EVs were pierced with a drill, which would instantly catch fire. This would then be repeated on BYD’s blade battery, but it would remain safe. BYD EV reached the peak on the basis of this battery. But now for the first time in four years the company’s profit has fallen. Sales declined year-on-year for eight consecutive months, and in early 2026, rival Geely ousted BYD as China’s top EV company after more than three years, though BYD later snatched the title back. BYD founder Wang Chuanfu adopted a strategy that set him apart from the rest – build everything from lithium processing plants to AI models in-house. This strategy helped control costs. Models like Seagull were launched for just $10,000 (about Rs 9.5 lakh). New models come to market rapidly. In the last decade, revenue increased tenfold to $ 116 billion (about Rs 11.6 lakh crore). BYD will sell more cars than Elon Musk’s Tesla in 2025. Chuanfu’s assets are worth Rs 2 lakh crore. But China’s auto industry is changing rapidly. The first thing young buyers look at when buying a car is the large modern entertainment panel installed on the dashboard. Companies such as Xiaopeng Motors and Li Auto were created by entrepreneurs who came from the Internet industry. Volkswagen purchased system knowledge from Xiaopeng Motors. A division of Huawei is selling software and entertainment systems to five different car companies. This helped a government company like JAC launch a luxury EV brand ‘Mextro’ worth more than $1 lakh. Geely tied up with AI startup StepFun for autonomous driving and iFlytech for voice recognition. According to experts, BYD’s battery innovation is brilliant. The 10-minute fast charging and performance at -30 degrees Celsius are fantastic. But when the entire industry is turning towards software, AI and entertainment, it is becoming difficult to stay ahead on battery power alone. The question is, will the ‘make everything yourself’ thinking still work in this era? BY changed strategy amid falling sales, BYD hastily introduced autonomous driving technology in many cheap models even before it was fully ready. Many accidents happened. Yu Chengdong, a senior Huawei executive, said that what is good enough and what is safe intelligent driving are two completely different levels. Under this pressure, Wang Chuanfu said – BYD will be the first company to compensate for the losses caused by autonomous driving accidents. There is now a new demonstration at the headquarters, the driver sits hands-free and the car itself finds its place in the parking lot.
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BYD’s ‘make everything yourself’ model tested: BYD’s profit to overtake Tesla falls for the first time in 4 years
