BYD ended the year with fewer workers, lower profit, and a sharper focus on keeping costs down. The world’s biggest electric-vehicle maker cut about 10% of its staff while reporting its first annual drop in net profit, a sign that even the market leader is feeling pressure in China’s brutally competitive EV market.
The company’s headcount fell by almost 100,000 to 870,000, according to its annual report, a reduction BYD ties to restructuring, efficiency gains, and lower expenses. It does not blame soft demand directly, which is a polite corporate way of saying the problem is bigger than one weak quarter.
BYD’s export push is getting bigger
BYD delivered 4.6 million electric vehicles and hybrids last year, and about 1.05 million of them went overseas. That was the first time its exports crossed 1 million vehicles, and the company is setting the bar higher still, with a target of 1.5 million exports this year. For a Chinese EV maker, that is both ambition and insurance: if the home market gets uglier, overseas sales matter more.
The company’s revenue fell 19%, yet spending on research and development stayed at $92 billion. That is a useful clue about where BYD thinks the real fight is. Cutting payroll while protecting R&D is the classic move of a business that wants to squeeze operations without looking technologically second-rate.
China’s EV market is still punishing weak margins
February sales of electric and hybrid vehicles in China were down 41%, though the Lunar New Year holiday distorted the comparison because business activity typically slows to a crawl. Even so, the broader message is clear: volume alone no longer guarantees comfort. Rival automakers are still slashing prices and chasing share, which is exactly how a market leader ends up trimming costs instead of celebrating dominance.
BYD is still far from crisis territory. But the combination of falling profit, a thinner revenue line, and a smaller workforce suggests the company is entering a more disciplined phase, where growth still matters, just not at any price.