Delaying the new petrol car sales ban will hurt – not help – Europe’s car makers, says BYD

Europe’s car makers risk falling further behind Chinese EV makers if they divert resources into keeping combustion cars on the road, BYD’s European boss, Stella Li, has warned.

The EU has scrapped its 2035 ban on the sale of new cars with a combustion engine, allowing manufacturers leeway for a tenth of their car sales to burn fossil fuels. European car makers were pushing for the ban to be watered down, arguing that targets ramping up the proportion of EVs sold were running ahead of true consumer demand.

But BYD is growing rapidly in Europe, despite selling only pure EVs and plug-in hybrid cars, badged DM-i for ‘dual motor’. Its European registrations climbed from 36,000 to 138,000 in the first 10 months of 2025 compared with last year’s performance, a 285 per cent increase. 

“We don’t care about [revisions to] the green deal, or [delaying] the ban for combustion cars,” said Ms Li during a London media briefing attended by Auto Express. “We can use DM-i to replace ICE with far better performance, much lower fuel consumption and intelligent technology. Our strategy, from [small cars] to large cars, is to offer EV and DM-i.”

BYD has stopped selling pure combustion cars and China’s industrial strategy – published a decade ago – has prioritised developing an international supply chain for cutting-edge battery technology. As a result, 60 per cent of Chinese new car sales will be pure electric in 2025. In Europe, EVs command a 16.4 per cent market share. 

“The European Union is trying to push the ‘Green Deal’ back and forth, then for a lot of auto companies their R&D is back and forth. How they can compete with a company [like BYD] which only believes in one direction?” asked Ms Li. “For the past nearly 30 years, our dream was always about electrification. We invest all the money for one direction. 

“Who is winning? You hear a lot of legacy companies [say] our future product will be EV now. [Now] they [might] say, maybe we have another [path]. But their R&D expense needs to be split into two, you never have enough money to do that and you’ll never be good at one thing.”

Three new BYD hybrids confirmed for 2026

BYD overtook Tesla to become the world’s biggest electric car maker, and is now the world’s third biggest car brand behind number one Toyota and Volkswagen. Cumulatively it has sold 14.5-million ‘new energy vehicles’ – EVs and plug-in hybrids – in its history. And it’s not stopping there: “our goal is to become the number one global automotive brand,” Ms Li told Auto Express back in March. 

In 2026, BYD plans to double its European retailer network from 1,000 to 2,000 stores, covering 90 per cent of the market. And a host of new models are coming: the Sealion 5 DM-i to take on the Kia Sportage SUV, a compact saloon – the Seal 5 DM-i – and the Dolphin G, thought to be a small, plug-in hybrid hatchback.

BYD’s European factory will also come on stream

BYD will also get a boost from the start of European manufacturing. Its new factory in Hungary will kick off trial production in the new year, with series assembly set for the spring. The Dolphin Surf – BYD’s entry-level EV –will be the first model off the line. The Atto 2 small SUV – available as both an EV and hybrid – will be produced alongside it. 

The plant will have an installed capacity of 300,000 units and Ms Li reckons BYD will hit that threshold in less than two years. And setting up a European production base and supply network will give BYD more influence in the region. Ms Li admits the car maker hasn’t been part of discussions around delaying the ban on new petrol car sales. “But step-by-step we will start raising our voice,” she adds.

BYD’s premium brand also set for launch

The executive vice president also confirmed that sales of Denza, BYD’s premium brand, will soon begin in Europe.

“We will launch the brand at the beginning of April,” said Ms Li. “We will introduce three models next year, all with flash charging, autonomous parking features and high performance. We will bring cutting-edge tech to the premium market.” 

The Z9GT estate – a rival for the Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo – and D9 seven-seat MPV are teed up for launch, along with the B5 SUV. All Denza models are underpinned by a high-voltage electric car platform capable of ‘flash charging’, delivering almost 250 miles of range in 5 minutes.

This requires special ‘1 megawatt’ chargers, which BYD will roll out across the UK: its first target is 300 in the UK, and 3,000 across Europe.

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