Apr 30, 2026
Executives at the world's biggest electric vehicle brand have confirmed the existential fears of their counterparts at Toyota, Honda and other U.S. automakers: that amid such a frenzy of global competition, some manufacturers will inevitably fall by the wayside. And the present trajectory doesn't exactly bode well for homegrown legacy names.
As the Beijing Auto Show kicked off on April 24, the executive vice-president of BYD (OTC:BYDDF), Stella Li, told the BBC (1) matter-of-factly that "history suggests not all will survive" in the sector.
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Li and her team, at the top of the game, appear to have little worry. Yes, BYD's domestic sales have started to dwindle (2) as rivals strategize with lower prices and local demand eases. But, the Shenzhen-based industry leader sees its ample opposition (3) as the ones who will die out now that Chinese President Xi Jinping has imposed controls (4) to prevent them from selling their product for less than what it costs to make it.
Confident in the driving experience and technology that BYD vehicles offer, Li assured reporters that despite failing to capture the coveted American market, the company — which last year overtook Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) (5) to become the top seller of EVs worldwide — is set up for continued success.
"We survive and are successful without the U.S. market today," she told the BBC, adding that demand from the rest of the world, led by Europe and Brazil, is at this point "much higher than what we can supply."
She also lauded the company's foundation as a producer of batteries and other smartphone components, which has provided an "ecosystem" of market potential. It was only in 2003 (6), nearly a decade after it was founded, that the brand made its foray into automotive with the acquisition of Xi'an Tsinchaun Auto Co. (Its first model, the gas-powered BYD F3, was released two years later.)
It now splits its focus between automaking and other pursuits, including providing EV batteries to competitors (7), along with manufacturing solar panels and smartphone components. One of its latest innovations, flash charging technology (8), is being incorporated into luxury models to overcome a key barrier to EV adoption: charging speeds.
International competitors are concerned about falling behind
Competitors, meanwhile, have been shaken by BYD's efficiencies; upon a recent tour of one of the Chinese giant's factories, Honda (NYSC:HMC) President and CEO Toshihiro Mibe ominously said "we have no chance against this." Similarly, Toyota (NYSE:TM) CEO Koji Sato, speaking to peers at a supplier summit in March, warned that the industry is in a state of crisis. "Unless things change, we will not survive," he said, urging partners to "step things up a gear" (9) as far as productivity and quality control.
Just last month, Honda nixed three ongoing EV projects and announced record losses amid a "reassessment" of its electric vehicle ambitions.
"Honda undertook a major strategic shift toward the popularization of EVs based on its belief that EVs will be the optimal solution to realize carbon neutrality," the company wrote in a release on March 12 (10).
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"Honda had been making steady progress in pursuit of EV adoption… However, the profitability of Honda automobile business is currently declining due primarily to 1) the unfavorable impact of changes in U.S. tariff policies on the gasoline and hybrid vehicle business and 2) a decline in the competitiveness of Honda products in Asia due to the impact of the allocation of more resources to EV development."
Ford (NYSE:F) is also walking back its earlier EV agenda (11), which execs anticipate could lead to losses of more than $19.5 billion. At the same time, Toyota is boldly taking the opposite approach and committing even harder to its EV program (12).
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Know your portfolio's level of risk
With uncertainty veiling the industry's future and huge financial hits on the way at some of the aforementioned companies, investing now may not feel the wisest, unless you're confident in a brand's vision and/or comfortable with high risk.
Some analysts have made cases against (13) buying something like Ford (14) at this juncture despite high dividend yields, pointing to ongoing recalls, slim operating margins, and such high capital spending that robust profit growth is unlikely. (At the time of writing, it's listed by some as a hold (15) or sell candidate (16)). Toyota, on the other hand, is still largely considered an undervalued stock with growth potential (17), as the company remains the best-selling name in cars (18).
Those with stake in some of the hundreds of smaller pure-play EV companies may be reconsidering, drawn perhaps to the promise of firms like BYD instead or put off completely by cooling sales activity (19), tariffs, export restrictions (20) and other changing (21) governmental regulations. (That being said, measured, informed risk in such startups can translate to reward (22) for those with the stomach for it).
With auto comprising a portion of many broad-based ETFs (especially the big names like Ford (23)), your portfolio may have some exposure to the sector without you even realizing it. But, such funds are notoriously safe bets (24). Auto-specific ETFs, meanwhile, will carry a little more risk, but potentially more reward than other categories — the more diversified, the safer, if you're apprehensive.
Article Sources
We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our ethics and guidelines.
BBC (1),(11); Reuters (2); Financial Times (3),(8); Automotive World (4); The New York Times (5); BYD Global (6); InsideEVs (7); Automotive News (9); Honda (10); TechRadar (12); The Motley Fool (13); Yahoo Finance (14),(17); Zacks (15); StockInvest (16); Visual Capitalist (18); ABC News (19); Battery Tech Online (20); Car News China (21); 24/7 Wall St (22); ETF.com (23); BMO (24)
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Becky Robertson is a senior staff reporter with Moneywise and a lifelong writer. Along with years in the journalism industry at outlets such as blogTO and Quill & Quire, she's participated in writing residencies at the Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity and Writing Workshops Paris. With 33 countries visited and counting, she finds travel to be one of her greatest inspirations.
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