What is the secret behind Geely topping the sales chart and surpassing BYD?

Guide

According to data from the Global Enterprise Research Institute, in January 2026, Geely ranked first in domestic car sales with over 270,000 units sold, ending BYD’s 40-month sales champion monopoly and achieving a sales lead of approximately 60,000 units (BYD ranked second with 210,000 units in January 2026). In February 2026, Geely again claimed the top spot in domestic car sales with over 206,000 units, marking the first time since 2022 that it surpassed BYD in sales for two consecutive months. So, why was Geely able to surpass BYD and consistently top the sales charts? This article will provide a detailed analysis.

I. Strategy: “Fuel Vehicles + New Energy Vehicles” Dual-Track Parallelism to Resist Market Fluctuations

During the industrial transformation period, a single-track layout is easily impacted by policy and market demand changes. Based on this, Geely firmly adopted a dual-track strategy of “fuel vehicles + new energy vehicles,” effectively resisting single-market risks and ensuring that the company has a solid foundation to protect and growth points to attack in any market environment, laying a solid foundation for sales surpassing.

Specifically, Geely has consistently adhered to a dual-wheel drive strategy of “fuel vehicles as a foundation, new energy vehicles as growth.” On one hand, it continuously upgrades and iterates fuel vehicle products, making them a “ballast stone” to resist market risks. In January 2026, Geely’s fuel vehicle sales reached 134,400 units, accounting for 54% of total sales, with the China Star series (including Xingyue L, Boyue L, etc.) contributing 45,000 units, a month-on-month increase of 160%, accommodating the demand of consumers returning to fuel vehicles due to the decline in new energy policies (the exemption of new energy vehicle purchase tax was changed from full exemption to half exemption). On the other hand, Geely continues to ramp up its new energy business, driving rapid growth in new energy sales. In February 2026, new energy sales reached 117,500 units, with plug-in hybrid vehicle sales at 49,700 units, a year-on-year increase of 89%.

With this dual-track strategy, Geely possesses a strong ability to resist market fluctuations, sustaining overall sales stability. When competition in the new energy market becomes fierce, Geely can rely on its fuel vehicle foundation to ensure that overall sales do not collapse; when the new energy market enters a period of explosive growth, Geely can swiftly follow up through its mature electrification framework, continuously breaking through upper limits. For example, during a price war in the new energy vehicle sector that caused the industry to face the challenge of “increased revenue without increased profit,” Geely was still able to solidify its sales foundation through robust performance in its fuel vehicle business and continuously support its new energy sector.

In contrast, BYD completely ceased the production of fuel vehicles starting in 2022, fully transitioning to the new energy market. While this layout allowed BYD to achieve explosive growth during the rise of the new energy sector, its weaker risk resistance in changing policy environments makes it difficult to maintain stable sales. For instance, the recent change in new energy vehicle purchase tax from full exemption to half exemption will directly increase consumer vehicle costs by thousands of yuan, significantly impacting the decision-making of price-sensitive consumers. Industry insiders have stated, “The previous full exemption policy for the new energy vehicle purchase tax helped BYD, which bet heavily on new energy vehicles, secure its championship position; now the half exemption brings pressure.” Under the policy decline, BYD’s domestic sales in January fell by 53% year-on-year, with main models like the Qin PLUS and Song Pro experiencing a steep drop in sales.

II. Brand: Multi-Brand Collaboration, Precise Coverage Across All Price Ranges, Supporting Systematic Growth

Geely has constructed a brand matrix covering all price segments through a multi-brand collaboration strategy, achieving precise coverage of different consumer groups and providing systematic support for sales growth.

Since the 2024 “Taizhou Declaration,” Geely has launched the “One Geely” brand strategy, fully integrating its brands, ending the previous situation of brand dispersion and unclear positioning, and forming a brand hierarchy centered on the Geely main brand, Galaxy, Lynk & Co, and Zeekr. Each of these four brands focuses on a specific market segment, precisely covering price ranges from 50,000 to nearly 1 million, creating complementary positioning that, to some extent, avoids internal competition while collectively covering the entire market, ensuring that Geely has core products in any sub-market, ultimately converging into systematic sales growth. Among them, the Geely main brand’s Star series focuses on the fuel vehicle market, targeting the entry-level and mainstream family market priced between 50,000 to 150,000, attracting consumers with high cost-performance and excellent product strength, thus maintaining the basic consumer base; the Galaxy brand focuses on the mid-low end of the new energy market, targeting the mainstream new energy market in the 100,000 to 250,000 price range, satisfying consumer demands through high cost-performance and smart configurations, becoming the main force behind Geely’s new energy sales, reaching 73,100 units in February 2026, contributing over 35% of sales and becoming key to Geely’s surpassing; the Lynk & Co brand targets the mid-to-high end of the fuel and hybrid markets, mainly priced between 150,000 to 400,000, attracting young, quality-seeking consumers with fashionable design and excellent performance, with sales of 27,400 units in February 2026, steadily contributing to the mid-to-high end market sales; the Zeekr brand positions itself in the high-end pure electric market, primarily priced above 300,000, attracting high-end users with luxury configurations and advanced technology, achieving sales of 23,900 units in February 2026, a year-on-year increase of 70%, enhancing Geely’s brand premium and achieving breakthroughs in the high-end market.

Table 1 Geely Group Brand Layout

Source: Organized by the author based on publicly available information

In contrast, while BYD also has multiple brands, it faces challenges such as brand internal competition and difficulties in high-end positioning, making it unable to achieve precise breakthroughs in various market segments. On one hand, BYD’s core sales still rely on the Dynasty series and Ocean series, both of which focus on the mainstream new energy market in the 100,000 to 250,000 range, leading to overlapping brand positioning and intense internal product competition, preventing synergy. On the other hand, its high-end brands like Tengshi and Yangwang have not yet achieved substantial sales scale, creating a significant shortcoming in the high-end market. In February 2026, Tengshi brand sales reached 5,501 units, while Yangwang brand sales were a mere 232 units.

III. Ecosystem: Connecting Top Supply Partners to Achieve Agile Product Iteration and Enhance Comprehensive Competitiveness

Currently, consumers are becoming increasingly rational in their purchasing decisions, no longer satisfied with a single strength but instead pursuing the ultimate comprehensive experience. Geely understands that in an era of technological explosion, no single enterprise can be world-class in all fields. Based on this, Geely adopts a combined supply chain strategy of “in-house supply + external procurement,” optimizing supply chain costs and risks while leveraging its own R&D capabilities to continuously draw on the forward-looking technologies of supply partners, establishing advantages in product iteration speed and comprehensive experience to support sales growth through curve overtaking. In terms of iteration speed, Geely can quickly access the latest industry technologies without waiting for lengthy internal R&D and production line transformation cycles, accelerating product iteration. According to Youjia data, the model update cycle for Geely’s new energy vehicles has been shortened to about 11 months, far quicker than the industry average of 18 months. High-end models like Zeekr can even achieve major upgrades every six months, with software iterations every 1-2 weeks. In terms of comprehensive experience, through cooperation with CATL, Geely achieves industry leadership in battery energy density, fast charging performance, and low-temperature performance; through collaboration with Nidec, Geely gains advantages in motor efficiency and response speed… This “strong alliance” model ensures that Geely vehicles have no significant shortcomings in range, safety, intelligence, and handling across various dimensions.

In contrast, BYD insists on a highly vertical integration model where the three-electric system and core components are fully developed and produced in-house. While this has built unique technical barriers and cost advantages, it has also created a relatively closed supply chain ecosystem. In terms of product iteration, since its technological updates rely entirely on internal R&D, the implementation of core technologies is relatively slow, and the pace of introducing new technologies to mid-low end core products lags behind. For example, in the fast charging field, the rollout speed of its Megawatt Flash Charging 2.0 lags behind Geely’s joint effort with CATL on the Shen Shield Golden Brick battery fast charging technology. This further leads to BYD’s iteration speed being slightly slower than Geely, with major models generally completing an iteration once a year. In terms of comprehensive experience, BYD mainly focuses on R&D in the three-electric field, leading to shortcomings in areas like intelligent driving. Additionally, BYD’s closed ecosystem model reduces the potential for product differentiation, further limiting consumer choice and accelerating the loss of users pursuing differentiated experiences, thus constraining sales growth. For instance, nearly all BYD models are deeply bound to its self-developed “blade battery” and “easy platform” technologies, making it inflexible in providing the solutions most needed by consumers.

IV. Going Global: Deepening Global Layout, Overseas Sales Becoming a New Growth Point

As the domestic automotive market becomes increasingly competitive, the growth ceiling has become apparent, and overseas markets have become a new growth engine for automakers. Geely has achieved systematic overseas expansion, realizing localized operations in channels, products, and manufacturing, driving sustained growth in overseas markets, and breaking free from single reliance on the domestic market, providing important support for surpassing in sales.

In terms of channel localization, Geely quickly achieved global channel coverage relying on the sales network of Volvo, which it acquired early on. Currently, Geely has established sales networks in over 80 countries and regions worldwide, with more than 200 overseas stores, forming an efficient channel system; in terms of product localization, Geely has launched localized products according to the needs of different markets, such as hybrid SUVs suited for local road conditions in Southeast Asia and high-range pure electric models that meet EU standards in the European market; in terms of manufacturing, Geely has established overseas factories in countries like Russia, Belarus, and Egypt, achieving localized production, reducing logistics and tariff costs, and enhancing product price competitiveness.

Under the systematic overseas expansion layout, while Geely’s overseas sales currently do not surpass BYD’s, its sales growth rate is significantly higher than BYD’s, becoming a key factor in Geely’s sales surpassing. In January 2026, Geely’s overseas export sales reached 60,500 units, a year-on-year increase of 121%, and in February, export sales reached 60,900 units, a year-on-year increase of 138%. In contrast, while BYD’s export sales remained stable at around 100,000 units in the first two months of 2026, its year-on-year growth rate was only 51% in January and 41% in February, both significantly lower than Geely’s export growth.

Conclusion

Geely’s sales surpassing BYD is by no means accidental. Firstly, Geely adheres to the dual-track parallel strategy of “fuel vehicles + new energy vehicles,” with fuel vehicles as the foundation and new energy vehicles as the increment, ensuring that it can maintain overall performance stability even amidst fluctuations in the new energy market; secondly, its multi-brand collaboration allows for precise coverage across all price ranges, fully meeting diverse consumer needs and supporting Geely’s systematic growth; thirdly, by adopting an ecosystem mindset and collaborating with supply partners, Geely achieves agile product iteration and enhances comprehensive competitiveness; fourthly, Geely deepens its global layout, promoting overseas sales as a new growth point, becoming an important support for its surpassing of BYD.

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