BYD or Build Your Dreams as the initials indicate, is the world’s biggest seller of electric vehicles by volume, and its starting to act in a way that reflects its status. BYD is no flash in the pan in Australia, either. New vehicle sales data at the end of the 2025 calendar year indicated that while legacy brand Nissan had exited the top ten, BYD had rocketed into it, sitting in eighth position. Ahead of Isuzu Ute and MG, BYD is hot on the heels of GWM and Mitsubishi, with only the top five in its sights after that. 

It’s an impressive ascent for a brand that hasn’t been in Australia for very long – and a sign that its seriousness about this market is very real. In February this year, VFACTS data indicated that BYD was sitting in sixth place, behind stalwart Hyundai in fifth. 

A recent report by Bloomberg in the United States, suggests that BYD might be about to step things up even further by making the leap into motor racing. According to Bloomberg, BYD is considering everything from Formula 1 to the FIA World Endurance Championship – categories where only the biggest budgets need apply.

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Insiders told Bloomberg that BYD was using the motorsport angle as a way of boosting global appeal. With Cadillac and Audi entering F1 for the 2026 season, and Ford returning as an engine supplier, the recognition that comes with F1 – thanks to the popularity of Drive To Survive – is seemingly too tantalising to resist for manufacturers around the world. 

Bloomberg reported the insider as stating that the cost to enter F1 is the biggest barrier with as much as a reported $500 million USD required to run a team each season, although the budgets of other teams suggest that income is more than recouped via sponsorship and brand awareness. 

Approval to join the F1 grid is an extremely difficult thing to achieve, and as was the case with Audi, buying an existing team would likely be the easiest and fastest way into the sport. However, teams don’t hit the market very often either. 

While even the concept of BYD in F1 might seem fanciful, Cadillac would have been at very long odds to join the world’s top tier of four-wheeled racing even five years ago, and BYD’s sales success both in its home market, and around the world, indicate it has the depth of investment other than succeed if it wants to.