Since 2021, the company has expanded sales of electric passenger cars into overseas markets, mainly to Europe, Southeast Asia, Oceania and Latin America.

[10] The company is characterised by its extensive vertical integration, leveraging BYD group's expertise in producing batteries and other related components such as electric motors and electronic controls.

[16] Wang Chuanfu acquired Qinchuan with the intention of developing battery-powered electric vehicles, leveraging BYD's expertise in battery manufacturing.

During its early years, BYD Auto achieved growth by reverse engineering competitors products and supplier parts, and maintaining strong control over costs.

[27] After years of sales growth, widespread withdrawal of BYD dealerships were reported in large Chinese cities during 2010 due to excessively rapid expansion, limited model range, and internal competition that presented difficulties for dealers.

In December 2010, a BYD Auto general manager confirmed that the company had cancelled plans for its production due to the lack of support in charging infrastructure.

In response, on 10 February 2025, BYD introduced Smart Driving Edition versions across 21 models, featuring enhanced advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) marketed as God's Eye, including city-level NOA (Navigate on Autopilot), with prices starting at 100,000 yuan.

Beginning in 2022, BYD has committed to producing right-hand drive versions of several battery electric passenger models for exports to left-hand traffic countries such as Australia, the UK and Thailand.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen claimed that Chinese electric vehicle prices are kept artificially low by significant state subsidies, that would in effect distort the EU market.

[147] BYD started sales of its passenger electric cars in Hong Kong in September 2022, shortly after it finished developing the right-hand drive Atto 3.

According to the Indonesian government, BYD plans to invest US$1.3 billion (Rp 20.3 trillion) to build a manufacturing plant in Indonesia with an annual capacity of 150,000 units.

[165] BYD entered the Indian automotive sector in 2016 as a battery and bus chassis supplier to Olectra Greenwich Ltd. Its manufacturing operations are based in the Sriperumbudur plant, Tamil Nadu.

BYD Auto had previously planned to invest US$1 billion with a local joint venture partner, Megha Engineering, with production targeted to begin in 2025.

[178] BYD is one of the top electric bus manufacturers in North America, and has been primarily adopted by the metro transit authorities of Los Angeles and San Francisco.

[188] In July 2023, BYD announced an investment of US$600 million in Brazil to acquire, modernise, and increase the production capacity of a former Ford manufacturing plant in Camaçari, Bahia, to build up to 300,000 cars per year by 2025.

[192] BYD Auto offers a broad variety of vehicle types, including sedans, hatchbacks, MPVs, SUVs, battery electric buses and coaches in various sizes, and large trucks.

[206] The brand was announced on 5 January 2023 at the Guangzhou Auto Show, along with its first model, the U8 off-road plug-in hybrid SUV, which features BYD's proprietary e4 individual wheel drive technology, followed by the U9 battery electric supercar.

This system is more performance-oriented, and consists of a water-cooled electric motor with a six-speed dual-clutch transmission (DCT) ("P3") and a 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder direct injection petrol engine to form a parallel hybrid drivetrain.

It is developed for body-on-frame, off-road oriented vehicles that use a longitudinal engine layout such as the Fangchengbao Bao 5 SUV and the BYD Shark pickup truck.

[233] In January 2024, reports surfaced that BYD plans to stop producing pouch-type batteries used in its plug-in hybrid vehicles by 2025 to address durability concerns and the risk of leaking electrolyte.

[253] In some models such as the Fangchengbao Bao 5, BYD offers the God's Eye C driving assistance system alongside Huawei's more advanced solution, marketed as Qiankun ADS 3.0, that uses single 192-channel lidar.

[269] BYD Auto's major passenger car manufacturing plants are located in Xi'an, Shaanxi, Shenzhen, Guangdong, Changsha, Hunan, Zhengzhou, Henan, Changzhou, Jiangsu, and Hefei, Anhui.

In October 2020, BYD Auto Industry Co., Ltd. signed an agreement with Japanese truck and bus manufacturer Hino Motors to establish a joint venture for commercial battery electric vehicle development.

[311] In February 2023, Hino Motors halted sales of compact electric buses in Japan supplied by BYD due to the presence of hexavalent chromium, a carcinogenic chemical banned under Japanese industry guidelines.

BYD claims that Shanghai police detained a woman who was acting as the marketing manager on suspicion of contract fraud and forging business seals.

The investigation was prompted by a complaint from a customer, stating that a salesperson on 19 June had convinced them to purchase a BYD Dolphin by claiming that prices would increase after the discount period ended.

[335] In July 2024, Fangchengbao, BYD's off-road vehicle brand, significantly reduced the price of its Bao 5 model in China by 50,000 yuan to better compete with the popular Great Wall Motor's Tank series.

[clarification needed][340] A 2018 investigation by The Los Angeles Times found quality and reliability issues with the BYD buses used by public transit agencies in California, such as frequent stalls and unpredictable driving ranges below advertised figures.

[353] In May 2023, rival Great Wall Motor (GWM) publicly reported through its social media that two BYD top-selling plug-in hybrid models did not meet emission standards.

BYD reportedly forced dealerships to increase electric vehicle inventories, selling to people outside of Nanjing and helping them obtain temporary residence documents.