File photo shows BYD logo. Credit: CnEVPost
- BYD will set up research institutes for its brands, which will be directly accountable for the market performance of their respective brands.
- The move marks a shift in its R&D system from a “technology-driven” model to a more market-oriented “brand-driven” one.
BYD (HKEX: 1211) is undertaking a major overhaul of its R&D system, preparing to split its engineering academy into five brand research institutes — Dynasty, Ocean, Fang Cheng Bao, Denza and Yangwang — according to a Thursday report by local media outlet Jipian Lab.
The five brand research institutes may be elevated to the same level as the engineering academy after the adjustment, with the academy retaining only its technology platform development function and most of its staff to be reassigned to the various brand institutes, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
Going forward, the engineering academy will focus more on developing underlying technology platforms and shared technologies, becoming a relatively pure technology middle platform, according to the report.
The five brand research institutes, meanwhile, will fully take over product definition and model planning for their respective brands, and will be directly accountable for the market performance of each brand.
This means BYD’s R&D system is switching from a “technology-driven” model toward a more market-oriented and agile “brand-driven” one, the report noted.
In fact, this is not the first time BYD has established separate research institutes for its brands. As early as 2023, the company set up three research institutes for Denza, Yangwang and new brands.
The Dynasty and Ocean lineups under the BYD brand subsequently gained independent research institutes of their own. At that time, however, all five brand research institutes sat under the engineering academy.
Under that structure, the functions of the brand research institutes were more confined to product planning and project management. The actual technology development was still handled by the more than 10 technology centers under the engineering academy.
By May 2025, the five brand research institutes had largely shrunk into skeleton outfits. Apart from their heads, most of their staff had been redistributed to units under the engineering academy or to other R&D departments.
This time, BYD has chosen to re-establish separate research institutes for its brands, with the core intent of letting the brand side, which is closer to users, lead model development, the report said.
Such a determined restructuring is closely tied to BYD’s current growth anxiety.
The company’s sales climbed all the way from 427,000 units in 2020 to 4.27 million in 2024. Since then, however, BYD has begun to encounter a clear bottleneck in scaling up.
Its full-year sales growth slowed to 7.7% in 2025. In 2026, cumulative sales over the first five months reached 1.405 million units, down 20% year-on-year.
BYD Annual NEV Sales 2020-2025
Year
NEV Sales
2020
189,689
2021
603,783
2022
1,863,494
2023
3,024,417
2024
4,272,145
2025
4,602,436
In the history of China’s auto industry, there has never been a domestic brand of such scale. With the scaling bottleneck emerging, BYD has had to keep experimenting, the report noted.
It is not just BYD. The smart EV revolution has profoundly reshaped the competitive logic of the auto industry. Nearly all traditional automakers have been pushed into reinventing their own organizational structures.
Geely Auto’s (HKEX: 0175) “One Geely” strategy, for instance, has integrated its R&D resources. It set up a unified Geely Central Research Institute to handle the development of shared technologies such as underlying architecture and core technologies.
At the same time, Geely separately established vehicle research institutes for Lynk & Co, Zeekr and Galaxy, an approach highly similar to BYD’s current adjustment, Jipian Lab said.
Both shift the power to define products from the engineering system down to the brand system. After all, whoever is closer to market feedback stands a better chance of leading the next generation of product forms, the report said.
The restructuring comes just as BYD’s sales show early signs of recovery. The company wholesaled 383,453 new energy vehicles (NEVs) in May, a slight year-on-year increase of 0.26%.
BYD Monthly NEV Sales 2024-2026
Month
2024
2025
2026
January
201,493
300,538
210,051
February
122,311
322,846
190,190
March
302,459
377,420
300,222
April
313,245
380,089
321,123
May
331,817
382,476
383,453
June
341,658
382,585
July
342,383
344,296
August
373,083
373,626
September
419,426
396,270
October
502,657
441,706
November
506,804
480,186
December
514,809
420,398
BYD monthly NEV sales
2024
2025
2026
That ended a streak of eight consecutive months of declining sales. Among them, overseas sales reached a record 160,644 units, surging 80.40% year-on-year.
BYD is going through a painful technological transition, switching from the first-generation Blade Battery to a second-generation product with flash charging capability.
The switch has significantly lengthened delivery cycles for several key models. Its chairman Wang Chuanfu had earlier warned that the company faced a severe challenge from battery capacity shortages.
As the production line revamp gradually winds down, the capacity bottleneck is expected to ease. BYD also rolled out a flurry of new models in the past few months.
In addition, BYD is accelerating its push into the premium market. The Da Tang, the first D-segment flagship SUV in its Dynasty lineup, officially went on sale yesterday, with pre-orders for the model topping 150,000 units since pre-sales began on April 24.
Wang said BYD will deliver better returns to shareholders through forward-looking planning and seizing key milestones.
($1 = 6.7582 yuan)
