As EV sales surge in China, BYD’s workforce has expanded rapidly, adding nearly 500,000 employees since 2019. BYD’s workforce is now roughly double that of Toyota’s as China’s EV leader expands overseas.
China’s surging EV sales are leading to new job growth
Privately-owned firms, such as BYD and others in the EV industry, are accelerating job growth in China.
According to filings, there were about 30.57 million employees in China at the end of 2023. That’s up 13% from 2019. Private companies accounted for 81% of the growth, or 2.85 million jobs.
The main drivers behind China’s job growth are auto, electric devices, and semiconductors, all powering the country’s surging electric vehicle market. According to the IEA’s Global Electric Vehicle (EV) Outlook 2024, China accounted for 60% of all EV and PHEV sales globally last year.
In 2023, new energy vehicle (EVs and PHEVs) registrations reached 8.1 million in China, up 35% year over year (YOY).
In addition, with over 4 million cars exported last year, China became the largest auto exporter in the world. 1.2 million of them were NEVs, up 80% YOY. The report expects the EV sales surge to continue, with one in three cars projected to be electric in China in 2030.
BYD’s wide-reaching portfolio (Source: BYD)
One of the biggest factors is the already low prices. Electric car prices are down drastically from 2018. The IEA report estimates “that around 55% of the electric cars sold in China in 2022 were cheaper than their average ICE equivalent.”
With further price cuts, around 65% were projected to be cheaper last year. The trend has continued this year, with China’s leading EV makers, including BYD, introducing significantly more affordable models.
BYD Dolphin (left) and Atto 3 (right) Source: BYD
BYD’s workforce is now nearly double Toyota’s
BYD now employs over 700,000 people, adding about 470,000 since 2019. Fueled by China’s EV sales surge, BYD’s workforce is now nearly double that of Toyota’s 375,000.
After overtaking Volkswagen to become China’s largest automaker last year, BYD is not slowing down. BYD released a series of lower-priced “Honor” editions of its best-selling electric cars.
BYD Dolphin Mini (Seagull) testing in Brazil (Source: BYD)
BYD’s cheapest EV, the Seagull Honor edition, starts at just $9,700 (69,800 yuan) in China. The new low-cost EV is already creating a stir among overseas rivals ahead of its European debut.
Despite talks of a slowdown in the EV market, BYD hit a new YTD EV sales record earlier this month. Through April, BYD has sold over 434,500 EVs globally.
BYD Yangwang U9 electric supercar (Source: BYD)
Although BYD is best known for its affordable electric cars, the automaker is expanding into new segments like luxury, mid-size SUVs, and electric supercars.
BYD launched its Sea Lion 07 this month. Starting at $26,250 (189,900 yuan), BYD’s new electric SUV undercuts Tesla’s Model Y in China, which starts at $34,550 (249,900 yuan).
BYD Sea Lion 07 electric SUV (Source: BYD)
According to reports, a new Seal model is due out to compete with Tesla’s Model 3. It’s expected to officially debut next month.
Meanwhile, Toyota is moving backward with new plans to develop “next-gen” engines despite calls to go all-electric.
As the market moves towards EVs, it will be interesting to see where BYD’s workforce is relative to Toyota’s at the end of the decade.
What do you guys think? Will BYD continue outpacing Toyota’s job growth? Or will the Japanese automaker turn things around? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
A team of white hat European hackers using their brains, keyboards, and a couple of bits and baubles from eBay managed to take control of a 2020 Nissan LEAF and violate just about every privacy and safety regulation in the process.
The best part: they recorded the whole thing.
Budapest-based cybersecurity experts PCAutomotive were able to exploit a number of vulnerabilities in a 2020 Nissan LEAF that enabled the white hat team to geolocate and track the car, record the texts and conversations happening inside the car, playing media back through the car’s speakers, and even (this is the genuinely terrifying dangerous part) turning the steering wheel while the car was moving. (!?)
Maybe the scariest part of this hack, however, is how seemingly easy it was to pull off by starting with a “test bench simulator” built using parts from eBay and exploiting a vulnerability in the LEAF’s DNS C2 channel and Bluetooth protocol.
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The PCAutomotive team gave a hugely detailed 118-page presentation of their exploit at black hat Asia 2025, which we’ve included at the bottom of this post, in case the original link goes dead. If you’re into that sort of thing, the fun stuff starts around page 27. And, if you’re not, just know that all the vulnerabilities were disclosed to Nissan and its suppliers between 02AUG2023 and 12SEP2024 (p. 116/118), and the “attack” itself can be seen in the video below that. Enjoy!
Summary of vulnerabilities
CVE-2025-32056 – Anti-Theft bypass
CVE-2025-32057 – app_redbend: MiTM attack
CVE-2025-32058 – v850: Stack Overflow in CBR processing
CVE-2025-32059 – Stack buffer overflow leading to RCE [0]
CVE-2025-32060 – Absence of a kernel module signature verification
CVE-2025-32061 – Stack buffer overflow leading to RCE [1]
CVE-2025-32062 – Stack buffer overflow leading to RCE [2]
PCA_NISSAN_009 – Improper traffic filtration between CAN buses
CVE-2025-32063 – Persistence for Wi-Fi network
PCA_NISSAN_012 – Persistence through CVE-2017-7932 in HAB of i.MX 6
Unfortunately, this is also one of those posts that some of the more clueless anti-EV hysterics will point to and say, “See!? EVs can get hacked!” But the reality is that virtually any car with electric power steering (EPS), electronic throttle controls, brake-by-wire, etc. can be hacked in a similar way. But, while steering a target’s car into an oncoming semi might be a great way to pull off a covert CIA assassination, the more worrying issue here is the breach of privacy and recording – unless you want to spend some time in El Salvadoran prison, I guess.
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A major new EV battery factory is being built in Sunderland, bringing 1,000 new jobs with it. AESC, Nissan’s battery partner, is behind the £1 billion ($1.33 billion) plant, which will boost the UK’s EV battery production by six times, enough to power 100,000 electric cars annually.
The 12 GWh capacity plant, AESC’s second battery plant in Sunderland, will be powered by 100% net-zero carbon energy. That big jump in capacity helps position Britain as a global player in EV manufacturing while pushing forward the country’s net-zero goals.
The investment is getting a serious financial lift from the British government. Through a combination of support from the National Wealth Fund and UK Export Finance, the project is unlocking £680 million in financing from major banks, including HSBC, Standard Chartered, SMBC Group, Societe Generale, and BBVA, that covers the construction and operation of the battery factory. Another £320 million is coming from private investment and fresh equity from AESC. On top of all that, the government’s Automotive Transformation Fund is pitching in with £150 million in grant funding.
This deal follows closely on the heels of the new UK-US trade agreement announced a day earlier, which cuts car export tariffs from 27.5% down to 10% for up to 100,000 UK-made vehicles – nearly the total number exported last year. That move could save car companies hundreds of millions of pounds and help protect good-paying jobs in manufacturing hubs like Sunderland.
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Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves visited AESC in Sunderland, where she met with staff and local leaders to discuss what this means for the Northeast and the British car industry.
“This investment follows hot on the heels of yesterday’s landmark economic deal with the US, which will save thousands of jobs in the industry,” Reeves said.
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It’s about the future of their jobs. Ford workers at two plants in western Germany are set to go on strike on Wednesday, their works council chief said on Monday.
Ford is facing a worker strike in Germany
In November, Ford announced it would cut around 4,000 jobs in Europe by 2027 as part of a restructuring, primarily in Germany and the UK. That’s still about 14% of its European workforce.
The American automaker said the move comes after it has incurred “significant losses” in recent years and a “highly disruptive market” with new EVs quickly gaining market share.
Ford blamed slower-than-expected demand for electric vehicles and a weak economic situation. It also plans to slow production at its Cologne EV plant, where the electric Explorer and Capri are built.
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Last week, IG Metall members voted in favor of “industrial action” with 93.5% of votes in favor of a strike. “Ford must act now—otherwise, we will go through with it,” said Kerstin D. Klein, Chief Representative of IG Metall Cologne-Leverkusen.
Ford Explorer EV production in Cologne (Source: Ford)
Ford is facing an influx of new competition, including Chinese EV makers like BYD. BYD’s overseas sales are surging with a fifth straight month of growth in April.
BYD even outsold Tesla in Germany last month, with 1,566 vehicles registered. In comparison, Tesla had just 855, and Ford saw 9,534 registrations.
Ford’s electric vehicles in Europe from left to right: Puma Gen-E, Explorer, Capri, and Mustang Mach-E (Source: Ford)
On top of this, Ford, like most of the industry, is preparing for more disruption with Trump’s auto tariffs. After releasing Q1 earnings last week, Ford warned that the tariffs could cost up to $2.5 billion this year.
During Ford’s earnings call, CFO Sherry House said that recent EV launches in Europe, including the Explorer, Capri, and Puma Gen-E, helped more than double Model e’s wholesale volume in Q1.
After early success in the US, Ford also launched its “Power Promise” promotion in Europe, offering EV buyers a free home charger and several other perks.