BYD

Professional_Mobile5

Well, they are the exact same as any other chinese EV. From the inside you would struggle to differentiate BYD, Cherry, Jaecoo, Geely, XPeng, Seres, etc

G-05

I think you should invest in BYD

Professional_Mobile5

If stock prices had anything to do with the car itself, Ferrari would be worth more than both. Needless to say it isn't. Also, BYD are nothing special, and I'm willing to bet you did not drive one.

Photochromism

BYD’s car are orders of magnitude better than Tesla’s dog shit. That’s why the US banned them.

kbcool

Doesn't matter. BYD has more models and beats them in total sales. It's also only a matter of time before someone else does too

Bluestreaked

And Chinese “government subsidies” are also older than BYD. What exactly is your point? Is your denial that carbon credits don’t actually benefit Tesla? Please tell me your point isn’t that dumb

CogencyInvestments

BYD has fake revenue numbers.

ZaneStutt

BYD actually generates more revenue and sells significantly more vehicles right now. Tesla’s $1.4T valuation is largely about what investors believe it could become beyond cars: energy storage, AI, autonomous driving, Robotaxi, robotics, software and charging infrastructure. BYD is also much more than cars, especially batteries and electronics. So comparing the two using only revenue and market cap misses most of the story……

Only_Associate6384

It will be eaten by spaceX once it starts losing value so Elon musk retains his wealth after that slowly but surly the car production and selling would be a few luxury evs if any at all meanwhile the leader will be BYD or other car brands

Life_Without_Lemon

I would buy BYD if they can start selling here in the states. Too bad the U.S. government is protecting overpriced crap American automakers.

CT_Legacy

How many gigafactories does BYD have?

sensibility77

Are implying Tesla needs to be valued at 118B or BYD needs to valued at 1.47T?

Mortenubby

What? Tesla is around 13B and BYD is at 36B

LasyKuuga

BYD is what Tesla likes to pretend it is car wise

LemonPartyICU

I was in Sevilla, Spain recently and I’d say at least half of the cars there were BYD

Chill_Roller

From my understanding, the biggest factor is that BYD owns their own mines and battery making facilities. So they don’t do what other companies do - buy OEM and slap their profit margin on it. When you have the whole manufacturing process in-house, your profits can remain equal and end-user/business costs be lower.

Majestic-Budget664

Did you forget that the Tesla stock is much more readily available worldwide than BYD stock?

ThaShitPostAccount

To be fair... BYD spent a long time selling domestic copies of foreign cars. I once rode in a BYD that was a line-for-line copy of a Lexus RS350. Also to be fair... Teslas are garbage cars. The interiors are uninspired and made of cheap materials. The fit and finish is bad. The paint quality is so poor most Tesla owners just buy a car wrap day 1. Warranty is mid at best despite having relatively few moving parts. Their giant iPad thing is a ridiculous, poorly planned distraction and their CEO is an unapologetic fascist. The reason they have had any market success is the federal government restricting import of competitors and the feds and the states writing every customer a $10k check.

Professional_Mobile5

Go ahead, invest in BYD. See how it works out for you

b__q

If that's the case why isn't Tesla better than BYD?

PreparationBig7130

According to their filings, both companies maintained at \~18% gross profit and \~3% net profit. Tesla 3.1 and BYD 3.6.

imnotokayandthatso-k

While Tesla is financial voodoo meme stock, BYD has crazy bad financials which is why they trade at a discount

40StoryMech

Too bad for BYD that China isn't ascending like America into a golden age. I don't even know any Chinese people, but I doubt there can be enough to sustain a domestic EV company. Now if BYD really wants to shake things up, they need their CEO to start getting more involved in our elections and say some edgy racist stuff, maybe get invited to those kid-rape island parties.

User_of_redit2077

BYD is heavily financed by the Chinese government... Just saying

gdledsan

I am not a Musk Fan, but we must give credit where credit is due Tesla validated the EV market, jumpstarted the Chinese factories that build batteries and components for electric cars, also opensourced acritical technology needed for EV cars. All of the chiebrse EV companies, Invlided BYD wouldn't be where there are without any of that. While Musk didn't Invent the cars themselves, his way if doing GTM (in any of his ventures) has been a breakthrough for that particular industry. So, where is the difference between the market cap and revenue in Tesla? Very simply put: R&D, expectation, and Musk Hype.

Jburp

Funny thing is BYD means Build Your Dreams. Selling Dreams v BUILDING Dreams 😂

BarbellPadawan

BYD cars are so much better too. Wish we could get them here.

Bulls_Bears_

And the US doesn’t allow BYD to be sold in the country

PauperGames

Tesla may be overpriced, but it is still practically the only vertically integrated EV maker in the west. BYD's home market sucks and every country on this planet (with money) is scared of Chinese EV's.

Super_Asparagus_

But BYD isn’t going to mine asteroids lul

Sybertron

If BYD was allowed to sell here I don't think Tesla would be a company very long

sdinvest

Should you compare BYD to Toyota and not TSLA?

TriIM1961

Shows just how overvalued Tesla is. It’s a meme stock. I made money investing in both companies. I sold out both positions when Tesla went to $400 the first time and BYD hit a high water mark. That was 3 years ago. Tesla has bounced around for 3-4 years. BYD under the China model will never make meaningful profits but they sell a ton of cards.

baudinl

You gotta pay the CCP penalty for BYD

sssawfish

BYD outperforms on EBITDA and EBIT but Tesla generates more at the EBITDA line per vehicle.

Disc0Disc0Disc0

Yeah but Elon will be able to ship you and your Tesla to Mars next year. Cant do that with BYD. Do you want to be carless on Mars?

geelinz

Do you mean patents or did BYD copy the Tesla fart noise?

sdinvest

Wall Streets like to look forward. Does BYD have any plans for Robotaxi and Optimus? Also any monthly income from FSD?

kosmokramr

BYD has a substantially higher profit margin

smoothvibe

BYD has a higher ebitda.

Former_Island_4730

TSLA is about 2x BYD on EBITDA. >12x on market cap.

WendyDumpsterFire

If Tesla’s stock price were the same as BYD’s market cap, it would be worth 29-30 bucks. Think about it…

Systiom

BYD: Build Your Dream.

HawkEy3

Why is BYD so low? 

rorowhat

BYD has the liability of the Chinese government.

HelloImTheAntiChrist

The best way to bring affordable high quality electric cars to the United States is to allow BYD cars to be sold and serviced here. It would have the added bonus of putting Tesla out of business.

Sufficient_Habit5091

wen BYD in the US

CommunicationFlat516

all the while China is running car factories with it’s lights off in a 24/7 automated robotic factory with zero workers pumping out double the cars vs humans. America can’t compete with Hyundai or BYD

MrB2040

Trump won’t let China sell cars in America but they are taking over the world because of Trump’s tariff bullshit. The loss of the U.S. market has pushed Chinese makers to focus more heavily on: • Europe, despite growing European trade restrictions • Latin America • Southeast Asia • the Middle East • Africa • overseas plants and assembly operations that can reduce exposure to direct China-export tariffs Chinese brands have continued to grow globally, and Chinese firms such as BYD and Chery have become increasingly important competitors outside the United States. Trump has destroyed the American car industry. We just don’t know it yet.

LaughCompetitive1504

BYD is better than Tesla.

StonkRonin

BYD truly does make nice cars, that’s a fact.

VastGap6446

People in Texas have been buying them? Or on the other side of border? My understanding was you cannot cross the border with a BYD…

One_Regular_3274

BYD please

soggy_mattress

American investors have a large domestic bias, and make up almost half of all global equity holdings. So, we’ve got a bunch of money to invest and pretty much exclusively stick to American companies. If BYD was allowed to sell here, I think that would change the perception a lot and bump up the # of investors by a lot. Also, though, maybe under discussed… investors want forward-thinking companies that get ahead of these massive tech adoption curves (because they’re so profitable), and Tesla went all-in on electric cars from the very start. BYD sold gasoline cars till 2022. If I’m looking for an industry disrupter to invest in, it’s the company who saw the writing on the wall 10years before everyone else. Even if BYD outshines Tesla today or in few years, the essence of whose idea it was to live in a fully-electric future seems to have come from Tesla.

UnfazedBrownie

I’ve been in a BYD in Europe (as Ubers), I’m impressed.

wombat6669

BYD is the biggest electric car company in the world. From what I've heard they are better and cheaper than Tesla's.

my-moist-fart

Thought the same years ago and bought BYD. Then i realized i belonged to this sub.

MrPezevenk

Why do you think it's so important that they sell in the US specifically? BYD already leads in sales without the US...

Sure-Speed1799

My hopes for the weekend- spcx rocket misfires and/or 🥭 accepts pandas and BYD into US. I'm ready to see Musk's net worth half itself

Onnimation

Wait until he allows Chinese Cars like BYD into the market... I would love to drive one but car companies will be royally fucked and that's saying it lightly 📉

gopoohgo

> Mangoe-Xi tango are apparently coming to an agreement on US sales (already have commercial sales in the US) and BYD currently has the largest market share Worldwide.   Will never happen. Midwest and Southern states where all the auto factories are will impeach him

Salt_Contract342

Ok class, talk me out of buying BYDDY. Canada (small market, yes) is going forward with BYD sales late 2026- early 2027; Mangoe-Xi tango are apparently coming to an agreement on US sales (already have commercial sales in the US) and BYD currently has the largest market share Worldwide. Why would this not be a long term buy at $110B ish US market cap?

Happy-n-Healthy

Xi brought his own BYD Limo...Holy Phuc!

The-Iron-Bird

puts on all US auto manufacturers, BYD absolutely blows every shitty american car out of the water

Biggchi

There are no tariffs for cars in Australia, since there is no local manufacturing. The cheapest car you can buy in Australia right now is a BYD Atto $15000 (A$19990 ). That’s the pricing power of Chinese car manufacturers.

CorndogSummer

If BYD is allowed to sell their electric cars in the US I would probably buy one. More affordable and higher quality than the ones we have in the US at least from what I’ve read.

MrPezevenk

They'll sell BYDs in the US eventually. That or Teslas will get banned from China.  BYD already is pretty close to Tesla in terms of self driving (in some aspects better), and the self driving feature is way cheaper than Tesla.  Now, even when self driving becomes reliable enough to permit driverless cars, the legislation will take a long time to get sorted out. So even IF Tesla gets there first, there will be ample time for other manufacturers to catch up. There's no indication that they won't catch up given how fast BYD, Xpeng and others have progressed. The valuation of Tesla is as if they are going to have some crazy global monopoly on this technology, and it's just... Not going to happen. It's been like that for so long too and nothing seems to shake their shareholders. 

WendyDumpsterFire

TSLA is fucked if BYD is being sold here

OrangMiskin

BYD mogs TESLA. Lmao

milkplantation

People shit their pants over Berkshire selling off Apple, Amazon, and BYD at +750%, +160%, and +4,500% and leaving money on the table but it's that cold disciplined investing that allowed Warren Buffett to become the best investor of all time.

Rock_or_Rol

Do you guys think 🥭 will cave on BYD imports? Apparently on the menu

SPQR0027

BYD and China SAIC Motors. Import restrictions and extra tariffs/duties will waver in the face of gas-diesel prices & shortages.

Salt_Contract342

Xiango Tango trade deal drops tomorrow, and BYD triples as they flood the US market

whatsgoingonhonestly

BYD FOR ME? :happy:

drndr21

Bought a bunch of BYD stock when I saw a cool parallel parking video (the car slid in parallel without turning the tyres). This was roughly at ATH with a 1:3 split the next day. I'm diamond handing this bitch.

vandalizethethief

Don’t look at it as an underperforming POS. It’s a “single stock tax loss harvesting vehicle ETF”. I own the BYD ETF & will use it to offset all my gains in RDDT & SOFI.

smellysurfwax

I saw a couple BYD ev’s in Mexico. Anyways, I’m down 3k.

Salt_Contract342

Dunno, but might have to blow a load on BYD

Onnimation

Same. Everyone who does deliveries and Uber will get one. Those BYD cars have a range of 900+ miles and a much faster charge than any other electric cars. Imagine being able to purchase one for 10k 😎

soggy_mattress

I mean, I'm an American and Tesla is an American company, and we can't buy Geely or BYD here. >Don't you think it's weird that Tesla's market cap is like 6x that of BYD... I don't find it that weird, no. I think the stock price/market cap is more of a projection of the potential of the company than a reflection of metrics like 'units sold'. In the same way that Samsung and Huawei outsell Apple, yet Apple sits 4x over Samsung, and in the same way that Amazon in 2001, the online bookstore, was worth more than it's book sales as soon as it started investing infrastructure as a service with AWS, there's more to it than the numbers that get written down. I think Chinese companies innovate by adding fun (but gimmicky) features and are not very good at UX as a first-principles design approach. I think certain American companies have learned to be insanely focused on identifying friction in peoples' lives and reducing that friction so much that it changes the playing field (iPhone, FSD), and at that point nothing else really matters because the game has fundamentally changed out from under those selling millions of units of the old thing. The fun/gimmicky things are still dope, though, and there's a market for them as well... it's just smaller than the larger market for people who want to think less rather than play with more.

astrawberryandakiwi

I’ll buy a BYD so quick

Onnimation

Is everybody shorting the US car industry? Tomorrow is the Summit and there's a chance that 🍑 will allow Chinese cars like BYD into the US market. Seems like a good gamble

Rock_or_Rol

BYD imports are on the Xi 🥭 upcoming trade menu btw

MrPezevenk

Ok, but why would US specific sales matter here? Don't you think it's weird that Tesla's market cap is like 6x that of BYD, even though BYD already sells way more cars globally and increasing? I find it weird that Tesla's stock is so absurdly highly valued when it now has many competitors, some of which are outright beating it in sales right now. 

Salt_Contract342

Time to buy BYD?

soggy_mattress

Pretty sure we're talking past each other. I'm talking about EV manufacturers that sell in the US. Tesla beats every other EV manufacturer that can sell in the US by multiples, including beating those same companies at global sales. BYD and Geely do not sell in the US, so I haven't been talking about them at all (at least since the 1+ year old post you resurrected the other day).

MrPezevenk

Well there you go, that's nothing like what you said before. And VW group is not the third manufacturer below Tesla, it is more like 5th-6th. BYD is now far ahead of Tesla and I'm pretty sure Geely or some other Chinese brand will overtake Tesla as the second manufacturer, they're not far from doing that. 

tedlassoloverz

just got a raise in rates, no way they let BYD in, and employment is pretty steady, this makes no sense

Easy_Ease3396

Are they any good/affordable? Only decent EVs seem to be Tesla or BYD, most German, Japanese, and non Tesla US vehicles are still predominantly gas vehicles Another Kodak moment really, the legacy business of the company tries to sabotage the new tech so their own sales don't get cannibalized 

BunnySprinkles69

BYD is everywhere

MrPezevenk

I don't know where you are getting these numbers from. BYD outright sells way more cars than Tesla globally, and Tesla rather narrowly outsells Geely, and VW is 6th, but still not nearly a 6x difference with Tesla.  https://dataexplained.com/news/top-ev-brands-by-sales-volume/ In 2025 the story was similar, it's been a really long time since Tesla had such a big lead. 

Wiubo

Your country of origin has benefited from US and other countries’ direct investment in automotive industry. This has created thousands of jobs that are at risk if demand declines further. Now with the introduction of all these chinese cars at lower prices, Brazilians in your country don’t procure the locally produced vehicles but aspire at these cheap EVs like BYD. How many plants have the chinese opened? What recycling plans are there to take care of all these EVs when they break down? You see, it’s not only a question of protecting Detroit, but what this flood of cheap EVs is also causing in other countries. If you like to be owned by china, then go ahead and drop all barriers and sell your country. I will continue buying a vehicle made in the good ol USA!

joebraga2

That's basically the tension I was trying to point out. If Detroit maintains higher margins and market share because a major group of competitors is excluded, that's certainly beneficial to Detroit in the short term. But it doesn't automatically tell us whether Detroit has actually become more competitive. Those are different things. A company can be very successful inside a protected domestic market while simultaneously losing competitiveness in markets where it has to face the full field of competitors. That's why I keep looking at Latin America. GM, Ford and Stellantis don't get to pretend BYD, Geely, GWM, SAIC and others don't exist here. They have to compete with them for actual customers. So I wouldn't necessarily use “parasitic” as an economic description, because trade protection can have legitimate industrial-policy and national-security objectives too. The interesting question for investors is where the cost of that protection ends up and what Detroit does with the time it buys. If protection gives US manufacturers time to reduce costs, improve batteries, develop better affordable EVs and become internationally competitive, that's one outcome. If it mainly allows them to preserve domestic prices and margins while their foreign competitors keep improving elsewhere, that's a very different outcome. And that's exactly the distinction I was trying to make in the original post.

joebraga2

I think you're mixing up three different things: profitability, consolidation and government support. China absolutely has too many EV manufacturers, and I fully expect consolidation. Some companies will fail, some will merge and some brands will disappear. But that doesn't mean the Chinese automotive industry disappears with them. The important question isn't whether every Chinese EV startup survives. It's what happens to the companies that do survive. That's also why “Xi is taking away the subsidies, so bankruptcies are coming” is too simplistic. China has been reducing and restructuring EV support rather than simply switching it off. The industry is being pushed toward a more mature phase where weaker manufacturers are increasingly exposed to competition. And look at the companies we're actually talking about. BYD, Geely and SAIC aren't interchangeable with tiny EV startups. SAIC is an especially interesting example because it already has a deep industrial relationship with GM. This matters a lot in Latin America. For decades, Chevrolet's Brazilian and Latin American identity was heavily influenced by Opel engineering. We had generations of cars with European GM roots: Opala/Rekord, Chevette/Kadett, Corsa, Astra, Vectra, Omega, Meriva, Zafira and others. That era gradually disappeared as GM reorganized its global operations during the 2010s. But what replaced it is fascinating: Chinese engineering and GM's Chinese joint ventures became increasingly relevant to GM's global and emerging-market product development. The current-generation Chevrolet Onix, for example, was the first model based on GM's GEM architecture, developed through GM's global engineering structure with substantial participation from its Chinese operations and SAIC-GM/PATAC. And now GM is looking even further toward its Chinese partnerships for South America, including cooperation with SAIC-GM-Wuling on future products. Think about what that means for the original argument. Americans tend to imagine this as a simple competition between “Detroit” and “Chinese automakers.” But the global automotive industry doesn't work that neatly anymore. Chinese engineering can end up inside a Chevrolet. A Western manufacturer can use a Chinese-developed platform or product outside China. A Chinese company can supply technology to the same Western manufacturers that are politically protected from direct Chinese competition in the US. So yes, many Chinese EV brands probably won't survive the consolidation. That's almost beside the point. If ten weak manufacturers disappear but BYD, Geely, SAIC and several other survivors emerge larger, technologically stronger and more internationally experienced, Detroit still has to compete against the resulting industry everywhere outside the protected US market. Latin America is already showing how complicated this becomes. Chevrolet spent decades adapting European Opel engineering to this region. Now Chinese partnerships can play part of the role that European engineering once played in its product strategy. That's the irony: Americans may eventually encounter Chinese automotive engineering without ever buying a Chinese-branded car. Which brings me back to the question in my original post. Excluding Chinese-branded vehicles from the US doesn't stop Chinese manufacturers from developing technology, gaining scale or competing with American manufacturers elsewhere. The investment question isn't whether every Chinese EV startup survives. It's whether the Chinese companies that survive this brutal consolidation become stronger global competitors — and whether insulating Detroit from that same competitive pressure at home leaves it better or worse prepared to face them abroad.

joebraga2

That's actually one of the biggest differences between the US and Brazil: Tesla isn't officially present in the Brazilian car market. You can see Teslas here through independent imports, but Tesla doesn't have the normal official sales/service operation here that it has in the US, Europe or some other South American markets. So Tesla isn't really the company putting competitive pressure on the established manufacturers here. That role has largely been played by BYD, GWM and, increasingly, other Chinese manufacturers. And the results are becoming pretty striking. BYD went from being essentially irrelevant in the Brazilian passenger-car market a few years ago to competing with the country's largest established brands. Its Dolphin Mini has even reached the top of the retail sales ranking. But I think your broader point about industrial policy is important, and I don't think the choice has to be “unrestricted imports or complete protection.” Brazil is actually an interesting example because the government is increasing import tariffs on EVs while Chinese manufacturers are simultaneously investing in local operations. BYD is operating in the former Ford complex in Bahia, and other Chinese manufacturers are also moving toward Brazilian production. That's very different from simply saying: “You can't sell your cars here.” A government can say: you can access our market, but if you want to sell at very large scale, invest here, manufacture here, develop suppliers here and employ people here. I think that's where the US-China debate becomes more complicated. I completely understand the argument about the social consequences of the outsourcing wave. Losing industrial employment isn't just an accounting exercise. Entire communities can depend on those factories and supply chains. But protecting employment and protecting an incumbent company from product competition aren't necessarily the same policy. If Chinese manufacturers could only enter under rules that encouraged or required substantial US production, American workers could potentially get some of those manufacturing jobs while Detroit would still face pressure to improve its products. Japanese and Korean manufacturers are a useful precedent for the broader idea. Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Kia and others didn't remain purely foreign exporters to the US forever; they built enormous manufacturing operations in America and became part of the American industrial base. Obviously China introduces additional geopolitical, security, subsidy and trade issues that Japan and South Korea didn't present in the same way, so I wouldn't pretend it's an identical situation. On Tesla, though, I think there's another interesting distinction. Tesla gives Detroit serious competition in EVs, but it doesn't reproduce the entire competitive environment that exists in China. China has BYD, Geely, SAIC, Xiaomi, XPeng, Li Auto, NIO and many others fighting across different price segments. That creates enormous pressure not just at the premium end but also on batteries, manufacturing costs and affordable EVs. And that's really the part of the Brazilian experience that made me ask the original question. Chinese competition here hasn't simply resulted in every traditional manufacturer disappearing. Instead, we're watching established manufacturers respond while some Chinese companies move toward local production. So I absolutely agree that industrial employment is worth protecting. Where I'm less convinced is that excluding competitors altogether is necessarily the only way — or the most effective long-term way — to protect it. The interesting alternative is: competition, but with industrial policy attached to market access.

felixfortunate

GM, Ford and Stellantis sold over 6.3 million vehicles in the US last year. That's roughly 38% of every new vehicle sold in America. People love shitting on American manufacturers online, but the actual consumer behavior tells a very different story. Americans are still buying millions of GM, Ford, Jeep, Ram, Dodge and Chrysler vehicles every year. For comparison, the entire US BEV market was only about 1.3 million vehicles last year. So I'm not sure I buy the argument that exposing Detroit to heavily subsidized Chinese manufacturers and potentially sacrificing domestic volume is somehow automatically going to make them stronger. There's a massive domestic industry here worth protecting. The problem isn't protection. The problem is what Detroit does with it. If tariffs give them time to reduce costs, improve batteries/software and strengthen the domestic supply chain, great. If they spend ten years selling $70k trucks behind a tariff wall while BYD gets better everywhere else, then yeah, we've got a problem.

MrPezevenk

> For BYD, not very long. For every other car manufacturer, it's not even close. Tesla sells 10x more EVs than every other brand besides BYD, even WITH this current Elon saga unfolding. Are you talking about the US specifically? Because globally that's nowhere near the case...

debrutsideno

Oh the giant AI response. Not my favorite.. On the Ford point, in 2024 the Ford CEO Jim Farley imported a Xiaomi SU7 and drove it for 6 months. At the end he said he didn’t want to give it up. The Xiaomi SU7 starts at around $32,000 USD and if it were available in the USA Tesla, Ford, Chevy, GM and the rest would have a tough time competing at that price. The closest comparison to a standard Xiaomi SU7 is the Tesla model 3. Which starts around $37,000 and has a smaller battery, less power and much worse interior. If I had the option I would probably buy something like the BYD Seal 08. Around $30k usd.

Speedy_Clax

Nope. Let em play. If BYD can make a quality electric car at a lower cost, bring them in. car prices in the US have skyrocketed and competition should be welcomed.

joebraga2

I understand the jealousy. Brazil is actually an interesting comparison, because we've already seen what happens when a market with very old automotive loyalties starts getting a much wider range of competitors. When Ford ended vehicle manufacturing in Brazil in 2021. The reality was more complicated. Ford had accumulated years of significant losses in South America, had already discontinued unprofitable products, and was carrying substantial excess capacity. The pandemic made those problems worse, but Ford itself presented the factory closures as part of a broader restructuring of its South American business toward a leaner, import-based portfolio. It stopped Brazilian production of the Ka and EcoSport while keeping engineering, testing, sales and service operations in the country. What's interesting is what happened afterward. Ford didn't disappear from Brazil. It repositioned itself toward more expensive products such as the Ranger, Bronco and Mustang, plus the Transit commercial-vehicle business. Meanwhile, the traditional mass-market manufacturers are still huge here. Volkswagen, Fiat and Chevrolet remain major players, and Fiat is by far Stellantis' most important Brazilian mass-market brand even though Stellantis also sells Peugeot, Citroën, Jeep and others here. But headline sales figures can hide something important: Brazil has an enormous direct-sales market. Fenabrave defines this category broadly — it includes corporate fleets and rental companies, but also categories such as taxi drivers, farmers and disabled buyers — so “direct sale” should not automatically be read as “rental fleet.” Still, fleet and rental purchases are a very important component. In 2025, direct sales exceeded half of Brazilian light-vehicle registrations, and even in April 2026 they represented 48.5%. That's one reason I think the arrival of BYD, GWM and other Chinese manufacturers is so interesting here. It gives us a better view of what individual consumers actually choose when there are more credible alternatives, rather than looking only at aggregate registrations heavily influenced by corporate purchasing. And Brazil has extremely strong legacy-brand loyalty. Volkswagen is probably the most extreme example. We even have a stereotype for the hardcore VW buyer — “vagueiro” or “volkswagenzeiro.” There are people who will probably consider an EV seriously only when Volkswagen puts the right VW-badged EV in front of them. Fiat has generations of customers attached to its inexpensive small cars and maintenance ecosystem. Chevrolet historically had families that bought Chevrolet after Chevrolet. Yet those loyalties can weaken. Ford's history here demonstrates that more than a century in a country doesn't guarantee that the manufacturer's business model will remain unchanged forever. So when you see BYDs driving around Mexico, you're seeing something Americans currently don't get to observe directly at home: what happens when Chinese manufacturers and established Western, Japanese and Korean brands compete for the same customers in the same showroom market. Brazil is effectively running that experiment right now. And the interesting part isn't whether every buyer abandons the traditional brands — they clearly don't. It's seeing which kinds of customers remain loyal, which switch brands, and how established manufacturers change their products and pricing in response.