They sit at the table of the giants

He BYD test track in Zhengzhou It has a 29-meter interior dune certified by Guinness, a 70-meter pool for its amphibious cars, layouts off-road and an impeccable asphalt circuit to step on the accelerator. All designed to impress. And it works.

More than a hundred journalists from America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa were summoned to witness an exhibition of strength. There were no big product announcements. The message was different: BYD no longer plays in the league of aspirants. He sits at the table of the giants, he knows it and enjoys it calmly.

If the circuit was the muscle, Stella Li was the brain exposed to the media. During the session with three dozen international journalists, the Xataka Legend 2025 He responded bluntly about tariffs, global strategy, competition with Tesla and the future of the combustion engine.

And it did so from a position of unprecedented confidence: BYD has sold more than 3.7 million “new energy” vehicles (NEV) as of October 2025. It is the world’s number one in BEV and PHEV combined. In September, it reached third place in global automobile sales – all technologies included –, only behind Toyota and Volkswagen.

“Our growth is not a coincidence. We are a technology company that manufactures cars, not the other way around“Li emphasized during his previous speech. BYD employs more than 120,000 engineers and files dozens of patent applications every day.

Europe, tariffs and the factory that changes everything

When asked about European tariffs – which penalize Chinese electric companies – Li was direct: “The Hungarian factory will be operational at the end of this year. The impact of the tariffs will be zero in the short term. We will be a European manufacturer.”

It was a response loaded with symbolism. BYD does not avoid the trade conflict but neutralizes it with local investment. And it is not the only front. Li confirmed that after Hungary will come plants in Brazil, Türkiye and other strategic markets. The lesson is clear: BYD builds where it sells.

But Europe will not be just battery and volume. Li announced that YangWang, BYD’s luxury brand, will arrive in 2026, although without specifying models. “We want to bring premium PHEV technology to the market,” he said. “We are still defining which model will be first, but it will be something that the competition cannot ignore.”

The veiled reference to the German BMW-Mercedes-Audi trident did not go unnoticed.

One of the most interesting revelations of the session was BYD’s dual strategy in Europe. The brand started with a 100% electric bet (BEV), but now openly embraces PHEV technology as a workhorse.

“In China, more than 50% of NEV vehicle sales are PHEVs,” Li said. “In some cities, it exceeds 60%. Consumers choose technology DMi because it is better: electric autonomy for everyday life, a combustion engine for long trips, and lower fuel consumption than any conventional hybrid.”

The technology that changes the rules

DMi 5.0 technology allows consumption of 2.6 liters per 100 km and combined ranges of up to 2,100 km with a single tank and one charge. In Europe, the Signal 6 DMi offers 1,500 km. “It is the perfect solution for markets where charging infrastructure is still limited,” he added.

Is the combustion engine going to disappear? “Not in the next few years,” he answered without hesitation. “But in the future. Once more people experience DMi or BEV, the fate will be clear.”

Asked about Tesla and the race for world number one, Li avoided the confrontation: “We are not obsessed with rankings. Tesla focuses on pure BEVs, we offer more options. “We believe in coexistence, even cooperation.”

In fact, BYD already supplies batteries to other manufacturers. “We are not just a car brand,” Li recalled. “We produce batteries for energy storage, electronic components… You use BYD products in your daily life without knowing it.”

That diversification is your secret weapon. The usual thing is to depend on external suppliers, but BYD controls the entire value chain: Blade batteries, motors, electronic platforms, semiconductors… Vertical integration as immunity to supply interruptions.

Regarding the brutal price war in China, Li was cautious but realistic: “The competition is bloody. But BYD does not compete only on price. We compete on technology, experience, ecosystem.”

How many Chinese brands will survive? “Too many are competing now. I don’t know how many will be left. But I know that competition makes us better.” The issue of national competition is not trivial: there are a brutal number of brands and it seems unlikely that all of them will have a place in a future that points to consolidation thanks to mergers, acquisitions of smaller ones and perhaps others that cannot survive directly.

The record that is not just marketing

If there were any doubts about BYD’s ambitions in the premium segment, the YangWang U9 Xtreme put them to rest. The electric supercar reached 496.22 km/h on the ATP Automotive Testing Circuit Papenburg (Germany) in September, becoming the fastest production car on the planetdisplacing Bugatti.

Driving it in Zhengzhou, although limited to a maximum peak of 160 km/h for safety, was brutal. Total silence, instant thrust, space launch feeling. It is a car that It has a profit above its own sales: It serves to demonstrate that BYD can manufacture whatever it sets its mind to.

Among all the technologies on display, one stood out for its potential impact: Flash Charging, BYD’s ultra-fast charging infrastructure. With a voltage of 1,000 V and batteries integrated into the stations, the system promises up to 2 km of autonomy per second of charging. And in five minutes, 400 km. “Recharging will be as fast as refueling,” Li promised. Of course, with double hose.

And here comes the play: BYD will install more than 6,000 Flash Charging stations in international markets (outside China) during 2026. First in dealerships, then in agreements with existing cargo operators. “We don’t need high-power connections because we integrate battery storage. Any location with 200 kW can accommodate Flash Charging,” he explained.

It is a rapid deployment strategy that also seeks to change the perception of loading time. And, in the process, create dependency on the BYD infrastructure.

Too many brands, or calculated strategy

Asked by a Dutch journalist whether BYD has too many brands and sub-brands—BYD, Ocean, Dynasty, Denza, Fang Cheng Bao, YangWang—Li acknowledged the challenge: “You’re right. We need to focus. That’s why we start with BYD first, then we introduce Denza graduallystarting with the Z9 GT and flagship models. We didn’t rush the launch. “We give time to tell the story.”

Denza, positioned as a technological premium, arrived in Europe in April with the Z9 GT: a shooting brake 1,300 HP, intelligent suspension, rotation on its own axis and mode crab walk (lateral movement like a crab). In Zhengzhou we experienced it live. It is disturbing to see a car turn 180 degrees without moving from the spot. Especially because it shows that they can do whatever they want.

About the possibility of a kei car accessible for Europe – similar to the model presented in Japan – Li cautioned: “For now we focus on Japan. But if there is real demand in Europe, we will find a solution. The Hungarian factory will be key.”

The elephant in the room with this issue is that Tariffs still make it difficult to import low-cost models from China. But with local production, BYD could replicate the Japanese kei car strategy: compact, efficient and cheap vehicles for urban markets. Another thing is, as she says, that there is real demand here.

What is really happening

If one thing was clear in Zhengzhou, it was that BYD no longer seeks external validation. It does not need to convince Europe or the United States that it is relevant.

The numbers speak for themselves: fourth global manufacturer by sales, first in NEV, speed record surpassing Bugatti and unstoppable expansion. And thanks to exhibitions like those of the YangWang or the Denza, a feeling that is taking hold: these people can do whatever they wantand also very fast.

Stella Li’s tone was not so much defensive as pedagogical. “We educate, we don’t just sell,” he repeated several times. BYD builds experiences, museums, circuits. Invest in charging infrastructure. Train engineers. Patent technology. It does not compete only in product: it competes in ecosystema lesson that we have already seen in the technology industry with erotic results.

And therein lies the real threat to Western manufacturers. Tesla showed that a newcomer could dethrone incumbents, but BYD is showing that it can do so on a larger scale, with more technologies, in more segments, and with a vertical integration that hardly any Western rival could match.

Going back to the beginning: The Zhengzhou circuit is a place with real utility, but also with its own symbolic load. Each setting—the giant dune, the pool, the circuit off-roads…— represents a problem that BYD solved with engineering: traction on sand slopes (U8), amphibious buoyancy for emergencies (U8), control on uneven surfaces (B5), directional drive for all four wheels (Z9 GT).

The message, in any case, was not limited to “look what we can do.” It was more like “we already sell this, it works, and it comes to your market”. A decade ago, Chinese prototypes traveled to Europe to learn. Today, BYD builds the circuit, invites global media to sit in, and teaches the lesson while offering coffee. Renault is one of the manufacturers that has already gone to take notes on how the hell they can work so fast.

The country that ten years ago sent cars to learn from Europe is now building the circuit and accumulating records. There is no turning back. BYD is present and future. And the rest of the world is racing to catch up.

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Featured image | Xataka