Chinese manufacturer BYD recorded a marginal increase in vehicle sales in May, ending its eight-month streak of declining sales figures. However, this does not yet signify a trend reversal. The slight rise of 0.26 percent indicates stagnation rather than growth.Image: BYDIn May, BYD sold 383,453 new energy vehicles, including battery-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids. A year earlier, the figure had been almost identical, with the difference between the two May results amounting to just 0.26 per cent. However, the slight increase is significant for BYD, as it marks the first time since August 2025 that the company has sold more vehicles than in the corresponding month of the previous year. The figures published by CN EV Post represent the manufacturer’s wholesale sales and also include exports of NEVs produced in China.Exports are also playing a key role in BYD’s renewed momentum. More on that shortly. First, let’s consider the month-on-month comparison: compared to April 2026, BYD recorded a significant growth of 19.4 per cent in May. April itself had already shown a seven-per cent increase over March and a substantial improvement compared to the weak start to the year, when only around 190,000 NEVs were sold in February.However, the upward trend over the course of the year cannot disguise the fact that BYD’s cumulative sales for this year remain under pressure. “In the January-to-May period this year, BYD’s cumulative NEV sales were 1,405,039 units, still down 20.32% from the same period last year,” CN EV Post notes.Focusing solely on passenger cars, BYD recorded 376,990 sales in May, including 198,674 battery-electric vehicles and 178,316 plug-in hybrids. BEV sales declined by three per cent year-on-year but rose by 27 per cent compared to April. PHEV sales, meanwhile, increased both year-on-year (+3.3%) and month-on-month (+13.5%).The export figures are particularly noteworthy. BYD’s overseas sales climbed to a record 160,644 units in May, representing year-on-year growth of 80 per cent. Previous peaks in April 2026 as well as November and December 2025 had ranged between roughly 130,000 and 135,000 units.The May result once again highlights the growing importance of international business for BYD. Exports accounted for 42 per cent of the company’s NEV sales during the month. The trend is becoming increasingly consistent. In April, 41.9 per cent of all BYD vehicles were sold outside China despite lower overall sales volumes, while the export share in March stood at around 40 per cent. In February, traditionally the weakest month of the year in China, BYD’s overseas sales even exceeded deliveries on its domestic market.BYD does not break down the ratio of BEVs to PHEVs in its export business. However, as the significance of plug-in hybrids at BYD is gradually increasing, this trend is likely reflected in overseas sales as well – though this remains unconfirmed.At the same time, conditions in BYD’s domestic market remain difficult. The company sold 222,809 vehicles in China in May, marking a year-on-year decline of 24.1 per cent. In the same month of both 2025 and 2024, BYD had delivered around 70,000 more NEVs on the Chinese market.The period in which BYD regularly approached 500,000 domestic sales per month now appears distant. The company last reached those levels during the fourth quarter of 2024.cnevpost.com