BYD Reports Record 62.9% China EV Penetration and May Sales Rebound, but Total Sales Flat YoY as Pentagon Adds Company to Military-Affiliated List

BYD Executive Vice President Stella Li told CNBC's Arjun Kharpal on Monday that China's electric vehicle penetration will quickly reach close to 80% with continued innovation. The company also reported domestic demand for its EVs is around double what it can currently deliver. 9% last month after exceeding half of new passenger cars sold in 2024.

Sales of gas-powered cars in China plunged 39% in May from a year ago, the association reported Monday. S. electric car penetration rate is around 10% while the global rate is roughly 25%.

U.S. tariffs of 100% on China-made electric cars have restricted local sales. BYD was placed on the Pentagon's list of Chinese military-affiliated companies on Monday. The company did not respond to a request for comment.

Li said BYD's fast-charging technology achieves a 70% charge in five minutes. The company expanded insurance coverage for L2+ driver-assist users on May 28, which Li said could boost customer utilization by 5 percentage points to at least 95%. BYD also revealed its own driver-assist chip.

Li said the company would largely use Nvidia's driver-assist chipsets even as it employs roughly 7,000 engineers for semiconductor development. The company employs over 869,600 workers according to its 2025 annual report. In May, BYD sold nearly three times more cars in China than the second-largest automaker by new energy vehicle sales, association data showed, arresting an eight-month streak in declining sales.

Leon Cheng, head of the mobility practice at YCP, pointed out that despite a recovery in May, BYD's total sales were flat year over year. Li said BYD aims to locally produce 75% of cars sold in Europe. She denied allegations from a New York-based watchdog of labor abuses during BYD's Hungary factory construction.

The European Commission said last month that the case fell under the jurisdiction of Hungarian labor authorities.