BYD and Great Wall "Submit Their Papers", Neither Is "Evergrande"

In 2025, the biggest war of words in the automotive industry was when Wei Jianjun, the chairman of Great Wall Motors, indirectly criticized the so - called "Evergrande in the automotive circle". In response, Li Yunfei, the general manager of the Brand and Public Relations Department of BYD Group, publicly retorted on Weibo, stating that "overall, the asset - liability situation of China's mainstream automakers is better than that of foreign automakers, and there is no so - called 'Evergrande in the automotive circle' among China's mainstream automakers."

As of August 30, 2025, the semi - annual financial reports of Great Wall Motors and BYD were officially released. Numbers don't lie. Is BYD really dancing on a tightrope? And is Great Wall Motors, which seemingly has weak growth momentum, biding its time? This financial report is not just an answer sheet for business operations but also a direct response to the sharpest doubts about each other.

A

BYD's semi - annual financial report in 2025 demonstrated its strong growth momentum as a leader in the new energy vehicle industry.

During the reporting period, the group achieved an operating income of approximately 371.281 billion yuan, a 23.30% increase compared to 301.127 billion yuan in the same period last year. This growth was mainly due to the continuous expansion of its new energy vehicle business.

While its revenue increased significantly, BYD's profitability also steadily improved. The net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company reached approximately 15.511 billion yuan, a 13.79% increase compared to 13.631 billion yuan in the same period last year. The net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company after deducting non - recurring gains and losses was approximately 13.6 billion yuan, a 10.43% year - on - year increase.

The steady growth of these core profit indicators shows that BYD's scale expansion is not at the expense of profit but has achieved high - quality growth.

In terms of deliveries, the financial report mentioned that the group's new energy vehicle sales increased by more than 33.0% year - on - year, firmly consolidating its leading position in the market. The market share in the entire automotive market also increased by 2.2 percentage points year - on - year, reaching 13.7%. Its performance in the overseas market was particularly outstanding, with the export volume increasing by 1.3 times year - on - year, indicating that its globalization strategy is rapidly achieving results.

The net cash flow from operating activities was approximately 31.833 billion yuan, a significant 124.52% increase compared to 14.178 billion yuan in the same period last year. This indicates that the company's main business has a very strong "hematopoietic" ability, providing sufficient financial support for subsequent R & D investment and production capacity expansion.

BYD's main growth points will focus on two aspects: technology deepening and market expansion. Technologically, BYD released the "Heavenly God's Eye" technology matrix and the "Universal Intelligent Driving" strategy, aiming to promote the full popularization of high - level intelligent driving technology, which will become an important part of its product competitiveness.

At the same time, the release of the "Super e - platform", especially the breakthrough in flash - charging technology, is expected to solve the charging pain points of pure electric vehicles and further enhance product attractiveness. In the market aspect, with the successive launch of a series of new models such as "Xia", "Qin L", "Han L", "Tang L" and the high - end brand "Yangwang U7", its product matrix has been further enriched and improved, covering a wider range of consumer groups. At the same time, the rapid growth momentum in the overseas market is expected to continue, becoming an important source of incremental growth.

The financial report of Great Wall Motors in the first half of 2025 seemed a bit worrying.

During the reporting period, Great Wall Motors achieved an operating total revenue of 92.335 billion yuan, a slight 0.99% increase compared to 91.428 billion yuan in the same period last year, basically remaining stable. However, in terms of profit, the net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was 6.337 billion yuan, a 10.21% decrease compared to 7.058 billion yuan in the same period last year.

The financial report explained that the fluctuation in net profit was mainly due to the company starting a new product cycle, accelerating the construction of a direct - to - user channel model, and increasing investment in the launch promotion and brand improvement of new models and technologies. This shows that Great Wall Motors is sacrificing short - term profits in exchange for long - term market layout and brand transformation.

In terms of delivery data, Great Wall Motors sold a total of 568,852 vehicles in the first half of the year, a 2.52% year - on - year increase. Although the overall growth rate was moderate, its performance in the new energy field was very impressive.

When we break down this delivery data, the interesting part comes. Great Wall Motors sold 160,435 new energy vehicles, a significant 23.64% year - on - year increase. This data clearly shows that Great Wall Motors' investment in the intelligent new energy track has begun to translate into real market sales, and the transformation has achieved phased results.

The Haval brand sold 323,702 vehicles in the first half of the year, a 8.89% year - on - year increase, still being the cornerstone of its sales volume. The Tank brand sold a total of 104,129 vehicles in the first half of the year, maintaining its strong position in the off - road SUV segment. The Wei brand, which focuses on the hybrid SUV and MPV market above 300,000 yuan, sold a total of 32,369 vehicles, a 60.34% year - on - year increase, making significant progress in the high - end new energy market.

For the growth points in the second half of the year, Great Wall Motors' layout is also clear. Technologically, the company will continue to deepen the application and iteration of the Hi4 intelligent four - wheel drive hybrid technology, the Coffee OS 3 intelligent cockpit system, and the Coffee Pilot Ultra intelligent assisted driving system, which are the core supports for its product intelligence.

In terms of products, in addition to the continuous efforts of existing strong brands such as Haval, Tank, and Wei, the strategic transformation of the Ora brand and the launch of its first pure - electric SUV will be the key to its greater breakthrough in the new energy market. At the same time, Great Wall Motors' "ecological going - global" strategy is accelerating. It sold nearly 200,000 vehicles overseas in the first half of the year, maintaining a strong export momentum. The global layout will bring new growth space for it.

B

In May 2025, Wei Jianjun, the chairman of Great Wall Motors, publicly commented, comparing a peer with a high debt ratio to the "Evergrande in the automotive circle". This remark was generally interpreted in the industry as referring to BYD, implying that there might be huge financial risks hidden behind its rapid expansion, especially the high debt ratio problem. This remark focused public attention on BYD's balance sheet.

The data in BYD's semi - annual report in 2025 directly responded to this market concern. In absolute terms, BYD's total liabilities did increase. As of June 30, 2025, its total liabilities were approximately 601.592 billion yuan, an increase of approximately 16.924 billion yuan compared to 584.668 billion yuan at the end of 2024. If we only look at the growth of total liabilities, it seems to confirm the outside world's concern about the expansion of its debt scale.

However, the key indicator to measure a company's financial health is not just the absolute value of liabilities but the asset - liability ratio. The asset - liability ratio can more objectively reflect an enterprise's solvency and financial structure. While its liabilities increased, BYD's total assets achieved a greater increase. As of June 30, 2025, BYD's total assets reached 846.343 billion yuan, an increase of 62.987 billion yuan compared to 783.356 billion yuan at the end of 2024, a growth rate of 8.04%. The rapid growth of assets was due to the comprehensive increase in inventory, fixed assets, and monetary funds brought about by its production capacity expansion, technological investment, and market scale expansion.

With the total asset growth rate far higher than the total liability growth rate, BYD's asset - liability ratio actually decreased. Calculated according to the financial report data, its asset - liability ratio decreased from 74.64% at the end of 2024 to 71.08% as of June 30, 2025, a decrease of 3.56 percentage points.

This change in the key data shows that BYD's financial leverage level is being optimized, and its overall financial structure is becoming more stable. The company's expansion is supported by effective asset growth, and its solvency has not been weakened due to the expansion of the debt scale but has instead been enhanced. This indicates that although the company is on a high - speed development track, its financial management has maintained relative prudence and effectiveness, responding to the outside world's doubts about its high - risk operation with actual financial data.

Although there are few conflicts between Great Wall Motors and BYD in terms of business, the rivalry between the two has lasted for a long time. For example, in 2023, Great Wall Motors reported that BYD's Dynasty series models did not meet emission standards. At that time, BYD directly responded that "Great Wall Motors' report was an unfair competition behavior".

In their mutual disdain, Great Wall Motors looks down on BYD's high asset - liability ratio, while BYD thinks that Great Wall Motors can never enter the core competition circle of new energy. However, Great Wall Motors' financial report in the first half of 2025, especially its specific deployment in the new energy field, can be regarded as a strong response to this market view.

The most direct evidence in the financial report is the significant growth of its new energy vehicle sales. As mentioned above, Great Wall Motors sold 160,435 new energy vehicles in the first half of the year, with a year - on - year growth rate of 23.64%, clearly indicating that Great Wall Motors' new energy strategy is no longer just on paper but has formed real output with an impressive growth rate.

Among them, the transformation of the Ora brand is particularly crucial and representative.

Since its birth, the Ora brand has successfully entered the niche market of female - oriented vehicles with its unique and retro styling and precise positioning, achieving good results. However, this positioning has also limited its further development space.

The financial report and market information in 2025 revealed that the Ora brand is undergoing a profound strategic expansion. Its target user group has expanded from single - female users to a wider range of young people, including single individuals and young families. This means that Ora's future products will convey more inclusive values in design, function, and marketing to attract more diverse consumers.

A more strategic step is that the Ora brand will launch its first pure - electric SUV in the second half of 2025. As we all know, SUV is the field where Great Wall Motors is most proficient, with the strongest market recognition and the deepest technological accumulation.

Combining new energy technology with its strongest advantage category is an inevitable choice for Great Wall Motors to exert its system capabilities and catch up later. The launch of this Ora SUV means that Great Wall Motors has officially sounded the charge in the mainstream pure - electric SUV market. However, Ora will not directly compete with mainstream SUV brands in the market, such as Li Auto, NIO, and Leapmotor. The Ora brand focuses on the compact market, while these leading SUV companies mainly focus on the medium - to - large - sized segment.

To cooperate with this strategic transformation, Great Wall Motors has also carried out drastic reforms in its sales channels and service system.

According to market information at the end of June 2025, Great Wall Motors is adjusting the sales channels and sales targets for the Ora brand. The company has set a target of 50,000 annual sales in both domestic and overseas markets for the Ora brand, which is a considerable challenge for a brand in the process of transformation. To achieve this goal, the company plans to establish a separate sales channel for the Ora brand and vigorously conduct channel investment promotion, planning to expand the number of stores to 400 within the year. This independence and rapid expansion of channels aim to shape a new and independent brand image for the Ora brand and provide a more professional and focused new energy vehicle sales and service experience, which is a clear signal of its determination to make great efforts in the new energy market.

C

In the fierce market competition, public comments and "wars of words" among corporate executives are often regarded as part of brand offense and defense. However, in the case of Great Wall Motors and BYD, these seemingly sharp confrontations have, to some extent, played an unexpected "navigation" role. The criticisms from both sides seem to have accurately pointed out the areas where the other party needs to prove itself to the market, prompting the other party to respond with actual actions and data.

In the second half of 2025, several new variables may profoundly affect the pattern of the Chinese automotive market.

At the China Automotive Forum in July 2025, Yin Tongyue, the chairman of Chery Automobile Co., Ltd., said that in the current situation of rapid intelligent development, Chery has to participate in the price war and get involved in the "involution". The price war is one of the core obstacles affecting the development of the Chinese automotive industry. In order to seize the market, automakers are forced to lower prices. Abnormal phenomena such as "zero - kilometer used cars" were born in such a context.

The growing call for "anti - involution" in the industry may not be good news for BYD, which is used to initiating price wars through scale advantages and cost control. If industry supervision and public opinion start to suppress excessive price competition, BYD will be forced to rely more on technological innovation and brand value to maintain its market position, which poses new challenges to its marketing strategy and profit model.

In addition, the "60 - day payment term" policy's reshaping of the supply - chain relationship has also brought cash - flow pressure to these traditional giants.

Great Wall Motors' financial report mentioned that "in June this year, Great Wall Motors promised to unify the payment term to within 60 days to support the healthy development of the entire industrial chain." This move responded to the country's call to improve the living environment of supply - chain enterprises but also put forward higher requirements for its own cash - flow management.

For traditional giants like Great Wall Motors and BYD, which have