There is no question that BYD is riding on a cloud. Yes, the company has challenges (as does every automaker in the world right now), but they are uniquely poised to take it further. That was the word from BYD chairman Wang Chuanfu during last week’s BYD annual shareholders’ meeting.

"BYD will truly become the No. 1 automaker globally in terms of ​scale in five years," said Wang to his company’s shareholders during the meeting.

That’s a very bold statement for any automaker’s chief to make, and we can see three reasons. First, is that BYD is a Chinese automaker. In many parts of the world (including here), Chinese automakers are just starting to win customers over.

The second is that BYD also saw a huge chunk of its stocks plunge in 2025. In the HK stock exchange, BYD lost about 45% of its stock value, while its listed stocks in Shenzhen dropped about 33%. This was due to the drop in growth from last year because of more challenging competition in China.

And finally, for BYD to take first, they have to surpass many automakers worldwide, and that also means they have to overtake Toyota.

But BYD appears to be confident. They are ramping up production of many new models in many different sectors that need new energy. And given the fuel crisis brought about by the conflict in the Middle East, demand for vehicles that can use less or no gasoline will be high for the foreseeable future.

Locally, BYD is already growing fast. While unconfirmed, BYD’s passenger car sales under distributor ACMobility are growing fast. They are limited only by the disruption in supply due to the shipping and fuel crisis, as well as global demand for electric and electrified vehicles. BYD also expanded by launching the premium Denza brand here, and will likely launch more as the months and years go by.

Can BYD be number one in the Philippines, too? We shall see if they can, but we know it will take a lot for them to be able to achieve it.