Brand hits production milestone

BYD has celebrated its 15 millionth new energy vehicle rolling off the company’s production line in Jinan, China. 

A Denza N8L luxury SUV was the model that notched up the milestone for the brand, which began selling vehicles in New Zealand in November.

Its year-to-date global sales were 4.182 million units as at mid-December, which was up 11.3 per cent from the same period in 2024.

The total includes 917,000 units sold outside of China, a figure in excess of its overseas sales volumes for the whole of last year.

BYD notes technological innovation is a cornerstone of the brand. Its research and development expenditure in the first three quarters of 2025 was 43.75 billion Chinese yuan (about NZ$10.7b), a year-on-year increase of 31 per cent. 

Its cumulative R&D investment has now passed 220 billion yuan.