China's electric vehicle maker BYD has more than 1.02 million employees. That is more than the combined workforce of four major automakers, including Toyota, General Motors, Ford and Tesla. Some observers say it is hard to compare competitiveness in the auto business based only on headcount because BYD's total includes workers across businesses such as contract electronics manufacturing, batteries and semiconductors.

Electrek reported on Oct. 29 that BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu (왕촨푸) said at the annual conference of the China Society of Automotive Engineers that the company's employee count has topped 1.02 million.

BYD continued large-scale hiring this year. Its workforce increased by about 150,000 in roughly 10 months from about 869,600 at the end of 2025. About 960,000 employees work in China, while overseas staff total about 60,000. Wang said as many as 120,000 employees are in research and development, working on batteries cells, motors, electronic controls and semiconductors.

Wang cited vertical integration as the reason behind the headcount. He said BYD's structure of producing key parts such as batteries, semiconductors and motors in-house has underpinned its growth. BYD, founded in 1994 as a battery company, expanded into autos and grew into the world's biggest seller of new energy vehicles. Wang said BYD's growth shows China's auto industry shifting from a follower to a leader.

However, BYD's employee count includes many workers not directly related to vehicle production. BYD Electronics, which handles contract electronics manufacturing, employed about 165,000 as of the end of 2025. Staff in businesses including batteries supplied to other automakers, as well as in-house semiconductors and motors, energy storage systems and rail transportation are also included.

BYD's headcount stands out compared with major automakers. Volkswagen Group had 662,942 employees at the end of 2025, while Toyota had 390,927 as of the end of March 2026 and Stellantis had 258,668. Among U.S. companies, Ford had 169,000 employees at the end of 2025, GM had 156,000 and Tesla had 134,785 in its latest annual report.

Toyota, GM, Ford and Tesla together have about 851,000 employees, about 170,000 fewer than BYD. But differences in business scope and workforce composition make it difficult to conclude that BYD's auto manufacturing competitiveness is higher based on that comparison alone.

There are also differences in productivity and sales performance. BYD sold about 4.6 million vehicles in 2025, but sales per employee, based on its year-end headcount, were about 5.3 vehicles. By the same calculation, Tesla sold about 12 vehicles per employee, Volkswagen Group about 13.5 and Toyota about 29. Different business scopes and counting methods limit the use of these figures as direct productivity indicators.

BYD has also faced pressure from slowing growth in China. Sales in January to September totalled 3,131,576 vehicles, down 3.9 percent from a year earlier. It sold 463,561 vehicles in September, a monthly high this year, but has been losing market share to rivals including Geely and Leapmotor as price competition intensifies in China. First-half revenue was 344.8 billion yuan and net profit was 12.3 billion yuan, both down from a year earlier.

Growth is continuing in overseas markets. BYD's overseas sales in January to September reached 1,342,960 vehicles, up 92.7 percent from a year earlier. The overseas share of total sales also rose to about 43 percent. In second-quarter deliveries of pure battery electric vehicles, it again overtook Tesla.

Still, the expansion of local hiring and production bases has been at an early stage compared with overseas sales growth. Overseas staff account for about 60,000, or about 6 percent, of the 1.02 million total. BYD is expanding production bases in Thailand, Brazil and Hungary, but its workforce and production base remain concentrated in China.

A key task for BYD will be how much it localises its production and hiring structure in line with growing overseas sales. The importance of local production is also rising as tariff burdens increase in major markets including Europe, Brazil and Mexico. It is also seen as a key variable whether BYD can maintain technological competitiveness using its large R&D workforce while responding to price competition and profitability pressure in China.