BYD yearly sales top $100bn for first time...China equity issuance doubles...China EV maker Neta Auto facing funding crisis

BYD yearly sales top $100bn for first time

BYD’s annual sales have topped $100 billion for the first time, as China’s electric vehicle champion dominates its domestic market and presses ahead with an overseas expansion, reports the Financial Times. Shenzhen-based BYD said revenue rose 29% to RMB 777 billion ($107 billion) last year, surpassing the RMB 766 billion forecast by analysts, on the back of strong demand for plug-in hybrids. The group’s net income climbed 34% to RMB 40 billion from a year ago.

Unlike its US rival Tesla, which only sells fully electric vehicles and reported revenue of $98 billion last year, BYD has benefited from resurgent demand in China for hybrid vehicles.

Following a years-long price war in China, the world’s largest EV market, BYD has also started to shift from an aggressive pricing strategy that was designed to win market share to one focused on trying to boost its profitability.

China equity issuance doubles

Global investors are increasingly re-rating mainland China's stock markets after two years of sitting on the sidelines, which bankers said will help drive renewed activity in a market where equity issuance doubled in January-March versus a year earlier, reports Reuters. Easing government scrutiny of technology majors and the emergence of disruptive AI software developer DeepSeek are big enough draws even for overseas investors wary of the impact of Sino-US tit-for-tat import tariffs, bankers and advisors said.

Total equity issuance from Chinese firms in the first quarter reached $16.8 billion, LSEG data showed, 119% more than a year earlier.

"The psychology of investors has changed. From many believing China was not investible, many now think this is a re-rating process," said James Wang, head of Asia ex-Japan Equity Capital Markets at Goldman Sachs.

China EV maker Neta Auto facing funding crisis

Neta Auto, the Chinese electric vehicle (EV) startup, is teetering on the brink of collapse after a funding crisis brought production to a standstill and triggered mass layoffs, leaving its parent company scrambling for a financial lifeline amid rising debt, reports Caixin. Hozon New Energy Automobile, which produces EVs under the Neta brand, revealed in February that its much-anticipated Series E funding round had unraveled. Originally scheduled to close by Feb. 28 with a planned injection of RMB 4 to 4.5 billion ($550 to $620 million), the deal never materialized.

A RMB 3 billion investment from the lead backer was contingent on several conditions, including resumed production in January, secured co-investments and debt reduction measures—none of which was fully met.

Founded in 2014 by motoring engineer Fang Yunzhou, a former executive at Chery Automobile, Hozon rebranded under the Neta Auto name in 2019. Its main manufacturing plant in Tongxiang, Zhejiang province, announced layoffs and halted production in November 2024. It briefly reopened from Jan. 4 to Jan. 17 but failed to restart production due to a critical shortage of components. Workers reportedly spent the period cleaning the facility, with no parts available to resume assembly.

China releases Mintz employees

Chinese authorities have released five employees of US due diligence firm Mintz Group from detention, two years after the country’s administration cracked down on consultancies working with foreign multinationals, reports the Financial Times. “We understand that the Mintz Group Beijing employees who were detained, all Chinese nationals, have now all been released,” a spokesperson for the company told the Financial Times.

“We are grateful to the Chinese authorities that our former colleagues can now be home with their families,” they added.

The Mintz staff were detained by Beijing’s public security bureau following a raid on the company’s office in the Chinese capital in 2023, which alarmed foreign investors in the country.

China humanoid robot maker plans to produce 5,000 units this year

Agibot, a Shanghai-based robotics start-up co-founded by former Huawei Technologies “Genius Youth” recruits, is targeting production of up to 5,000 robots this year, according to a senior executive, matching Elon Musk’s Optimus plans, reports the South China Morning Post.

The company, also known as Zhiyuan Robotics, plans to deliver between 3,000 and 5,000 robots this year, a significant increase from the fewer than 1,000 units shipped last year, according to Yao Maoqing, a partner at Agibot and president of the company’s embodied intelligence unit. The production surge reflects the eagerness among Chinese robotics start-ups for expansion amid a domestic boom in the industry.

Industrial robot output in China rose 27% year on year to 91,088 units in January and February, while service robot output increased 36% to 1.5 million units, according to government data.

Dreaming of cars

BYD’s sales last year passed $100 billion for the first time, leapfrogging Tesla, and further cementing themselves in the global auto manufacturing elite. The increase in sales is part EV-driven and partly comes from a demand in the Chinese market for its hybrid vehicles. China is still by far BYD’s largest market, where the company holds a 15% market share.

So, how far can BYD go? From a business and technology standpoint they are at the leading edge of the EV market. But geopolitical issues are becoming an increasing problem. Import tariffs in the US and Europe are making the most lucrative potential markets more difficult to access. While data security concerns about Chinese-made technologies are no doubt going to have a greater impact in the coming years as well. At the same time, a potential manufacturing plant in Mexico, which could offer a backdoor into the US market, is still on hold awaiting for the go-ahead from the Chinese government. The Global South may be a good alternative option for Chinese firms like BYD, but for pure EVs there is still a problem with charging infrastructure that will need to be solved.

The Center has no interest in letting BYD fail or fall by the wayside, but the company is getting squeezed by both sides and this will inevitably have an impact on its trajectory.