BYD Says It Can Overtake Toyota Without Selling in the United States

BYD, China's largest electric-vehicle (EV) maker, believes it can become the world's biggest carmaker without entering the United States market, its international operations chief said, signaling that European expansion will intensify. The comment reflects a company confident it can displace Japan's Toyota on the strength of China, emerging markets, and a deeper push into Europe alone.

The strategy is shaped by China's own economy. With domestic demand soft and the home EV market saturated and fiercely price-competitive, BYD and its rivals are increasing the volume they sell abroad, and Europe is the largest accessible market open to them. That has already drawn European Union tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, which BYD is countering by building assembly plants inside Europe to produce locally and avoid import duties.

Ceding the United States, effectively closed to Chinese cars by tariffs and political resistance, is a recognition of how the global auto market is fragmenting into blocs. BYD is counting on its scale everywhere outside the United States being enough to become the world's largest carmaker, a claim that would have been implausible a few years ago.