China’s BYD breaks out in UK with shocking 880% surge in EV sales

Chinese carmaker BYD has blown through the U.K. auto market with an 880% rise in sales last month, selling 11,271 electric cars, according to a Monday announcement from the company.

That surge in sales now brings the automaker’s 2025 total in Britain to over 35,000 units, making the U.K. its biggest market outside of China. BYD’s year-to-date market share now stands at 2.2%, with this latest surge reshaping the U.K.’s EV scene.

BYD, which originally made mobile phones before diving into EVs, has built a name on low pricing. In the U.K., the company’s Dolphin model starts at just over £26,000 ($34,913), while Tesla’s Model 3 sits closer to £40,000.

Even though Tesla is planning a cheaper option, BYD’s pricing edge is already pulling in buyers. Two models in particular, the SEAL U DM-i hybrid and the SEALION 7 electric SUV, led the charge last month, with both dominating U.K. deliveries.

To support this growth, BYD also launched a new battery servicing facility in Britain in September, which focuses on the company’s electric bus fleet.

UK grant excludes BYD while Tesla lags across Europe

Even though the U.K. reintroduced an EV grant in July to lower costs for buyers, Chinese brands like BYD were excluded from the policy. Still, total battery EV sales rose by 29.1% year-on-year to 72,779 units in September, as reported by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.

That wider industry spike gave BYD an indirect lift, letting it ride the momentum without direct financial help from the British government.

Across Europe, BYD is also racking up wins. The company posted a 200% increase in sales year-on-year as of August, pulling ahead of Tesla, whose sales dropped more than 36%, according to industry group ACEA. But not everything is headed uphill.

Last week, BYD logged its first year-on-year drop in deliveries for 2025, with a 6% dip, pointing to slowing traction at home. On Monday, its stock price fell 1.3% in Hong Kong, highlighting investor nerves as the company pushes forward globally.

Wang Chuanfu’s SkyRail vision stalls in Chinese cities

Outside the EV world, BYD’s founder Wang Chuanfu has been trying to bring a whole different project to life. Since 2016, he’s been championing SkyRail, an elevated monorail system that he says could solve city congestion and pollution in one shot.

The Shenzhen-based company spent close to $1 billion building it, with over 1,000 engineers on the job. Back in 2017, Wang said the system had the potential to roll out in over 200 Chinese cities, calling the market for it “worth trillions of yuan.”

But years later, the dream is falling apart. SkyRail projects in cities like Anyang (Henan) and Guilin have been abandoned, with half-built stations and unused trains gathering rust, based on footage shared on Douyin, China’s TikTok equivalent.

Even though SkyRail now looks like a rare failure for BYD, the company said in its March annual report that development is still ongoing. Wang, in a 2021 interview, pushed back against doubts. “We have sufficient data to prove that we’re right,” he said. He also claimed the public would eventually support the project.

Years ago, BYD was in talks to launch SkyRail and its smaller sibling SkyShuttle in around 20 cities, drawn in by low costs. Wang said building SkyRail would cost only 20% of what a subway line costs and take one-third the time.

Construction began in Shenzhen, Shantou, and Xi’an, but in 2021, Beijing froze new rail project approvals to cut local debt and introduced stricter rules based on population, revenue, and GDP.

One city, Bengbu in Anhui province, even finished most of a 5.7-kilometer (3.5-mile) SkyRail test line, but couldn’t get it running. Local officials confirmed it failed to meet new national policy thresholds, which blocked the project from moving forward.

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