BYD already has more employees than Stellantis and VW Group together

There are already over a million people working for BYD worldwide – which thus assumes a clear leadership position on the number of employees.

According to Electrek, President Wang Chuanfu recently announced that the manufacturer has more than 1.02 million employees globally – about 960,000 in China alone.

Vertical integration is considered to be the main driver of the number of BYD employees, which also includes those of BYD Electronic. It develops and provides products to customers in various areas of business – from smartphones and computers to new energy vehicles, going through robotics, communication equipment, among others.

Growth has been a constant over the last few years, placing BYD with more employees than the two largest conglomerates in Europe.

At the end of 2025, the Volkswagen Group reported 662,942 workers overall (which includes chinese joint ventures), and stellantis had 258,668 employees. In other words, these two manufacturers together total 921,610 people in their frames.

Toyota reported 390,927 at the end of the fiscal year 2026 (March 31, 2026), with American Tesla and Ford having 134,785 and 169,000 employees reported. The three manufacturers together don't even get to the 700,000 workers.

BYD is still far from the domain where it matters most

Despite the impressive numbers of the staff and growth in the market BYD is still well behind other manufacturers in what matters most – car sales.

Accounts made by Electrek show that BYD sells, on average, just over five cars per employee, below about 12 of Tesla and the 29 of Toyota.

The Chinese manufacturer traded around 4.6 million cars last year, while Toyota packed 11.3 million sales (with Daihatsu and Hino brands included).