BYD claims 70% of EV and PHEV sales in Mexico as Canada opens the floodgates

BYD already has a strong foothold in Mexico, accounting for around 70% of electric and plug-in hybrid sales. Now, the Chinese EV giant could be looking north, as Canada opens its doors.

BYD takes lead in Mexico EV market, Canada up next

In early 2023, BYD launched its first passenger vehicles in Mexico, the Han, Tang, and Yuan Plus. Since then, it has introduced new entry-level models, like the Dolphin Mini, crossovers including the Song Plus, and its first pickup, the Shark PHEV.

After overtaking Tesla as the world’s largest EV seller last year, BYD is aggressively targeting overseas markets, including Mexico, Europe, and Southeast Asia, to drive growth in 2026.

So far, it seems to be paying off. According to BloombergNEF estimates, BYD’s sales in Mexico nearly doubled last year, accounting for about 70% of the EV and PHEV market.

BYD’s success has caught American and Japanese automakers off guard, who continue to offer outdated gas and hybrid vehicles. Even Tesla sold just 4,000 cars in Mexico in 2024, about a quarter of BYD’s estimated EV sales that year.

Since many automakers believe Mexico is too small a market or not ready for new tech, it has opened the door for Chinese brands like BYD and Chery to step in.

Fewer than 500 Chinese EVs and PHEVs were shipped to Mexico in 2021. Last year, that number reached nearly 100,000 according to BloombergNEF, with BYD accounting for 84% of Mexico’s EV imports.

“If you go to any city in Mexico, you can see that BYD is the darling of the market,” Stella Li, president of BYD America, told journalists in November. “Every time we have a weekend event, it’s packed. They dream of owning their own BYD car.”

BYD and other Chinese brands’ growing market share prompted lawmakers to propose tariffs of up to 50% on imports from non-free-trade partners, including Chinese vehicles. The tariffs went into effect on January 1, 2026.

A BYD salesman in Mexico City, David Gonzalez, told Bloomberg that the company ran year-end promotions to sell vehicles before the tariffs took effect. Gonzalez doesn’t expect sales to drop because he believes BYD will absorb the costs and wouldn’t raise prices by more than 15,000 pesos ($8,700).

BYD’s success is primarily thanks to its lower prices. The Dolphin Mini, BYD’s best-selling vehicle in Mexico, costs $2,000 less than the next closest competitor, the Chevy Spark EUV.

After Canada reached an agreement with China earlier this month to allow 49,000 Chinese EVs to be imported with a tariff rate of 6.1% each year, you might start seeing BYD vehicles in another North American market very soon.