Electric vehicle giant BYD announced Wednesday that it was partnering with KFC to offer its EV users in China a one-stop feeding and fueling experience — in under 10 minutes.

In a post on its official WeChat account, BYD said it was working with Yum China Holdings — the fast-food conglomerate which owns the KFC brand in China — to develop a network of “nine-minute” drive-thrus across the country, which would allow EV drivers to stop for meals at KFC outlets while charging their cars.

The “nine-minute” branding alludes to the fast charging capabilities of BYD’s second-generation Blade battery, which the company unveiled in March and advertised as achieving a 97% charge in nine minutes.

As part of the new collaboration, the automaker also launched a “smart ordering function” that not only allows drivers to place orders directly from their car’s onboard interface, but also displays known locations of KFC one-stop drive-thrus along the driver’s route.

This smart ordering system is set to be progressively rolled out to BYD’s passenger EV lineup, starting with the Fangchengbao Ti7 (“Formula Leopard Titanium 7”) SUV.

In its statement, BYD said the collaboration sought to maximize the efficiency of on-the-go charging, which it described as a lingering pain point in EV ownership.

BYD announced the completion of its 5,000th flash charging station in China on March 31, with plans to construct a total of 20,000 by the end of the year.

BYD’s stellar domestic sales growth has reversed recently, tracking a slump in China’s broader EV sector amid persistent oversupply issues in the Chinese market and a rollback of government subsidies on new energy vehicles from the start of 2026.

Total first quarter sales from the Shenzhen-headquartered automaker dropped around 30% from the same period a year before, as offerings from domestic competitors like Stellantis-backed Leapmotor and Geely’s Zeekr brand kept BYD on its toes.

In its recent annual financial statement, BYD also reported its first decline in annual profits since 2021. The firm’s Hong Kong-listed shares are currently trading around 20% lower than a year ago.

BYD remains China’s leading EV manufacturer, posting a total of 367,828 domestic sales over the first quarter of the year, according to CNBC’s calculations.

BYD’s collaboration with KFC sees the EV giant partnering with China’s “leading fast-food chain,” according to a 2025 industry report by DaXue Consulting.

“Fast food is firmly part of everyday life in China, especially in cities,” said Ashley Dudarenok, founder of digital consultancy ChoZan, who cited long working hours, dense urban living, and the rise of delivery platforms in many cities across the world’s second-most…

Tesla’s China-made electric vehicle sales rose over the first two months of 2026 from the year before, regaining some lost ground to China’s BYD.

The combined January and February sales in Tesla’s China-made EVs rose by more than 35% to 127,728, up from 93,926 in the previous year, according to data published Thursday by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).

The figure was adjusted to account for the seasonal sales slowdown during the two-week Chinese New Year holiday, which took place mid-February.

The combined sales volume from Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory — which produces the Model 3 and Model Y for domestic and foreign markets in Europe, the Asia-Pacific and elsewhere — was second only to BYD, which reported a 36% decline in deliveries on year during the same period.

BYD unseated Tesla as the world’s largest EV seller, on a calendar-year basis, for the first time in 2025, but Tesla’s recent delivery figures suggest that demand remains relatively healthy, as the combined sales volume for Tesla’s China-made EVs is still more than double that of the next closest automaker, Leapmotor.

Reuters also reported last week that new registrations for Tesla’s EVs, a proxy for sales, rose broadly across Europe in February, most of which are exported from Tesla’s Shanghai factory.

Still, there is little indication that the American automaker is primed to catch up to BYD’s sizeable lead in domestic and overseas sales.

BYD’s new Blade battery and charging capabilities — touted to be able to achieve a 97% charge from 10% in just nine minutes — was unveiled last week to critical acclaim, as it was said to overcome common concerns over EV battery ranges.

BYD’s growing overseas footprint also enables the Shenzhen-headquartered automaker to maintain a strong lead over its domestic competitors, with its export figures exceeding domestic sales for the first time in February.

“BYD’s hedge is exports — [the company’s] overseas sales crossed 1 million units in 2025 for the first time, a buffer purely domestic rivals can’t match,” Leon Cheng, head of the mobility practice at management consulting firm YCP, told CNBC.

Other automakers from China have also grown increasingly competitive by offering a wider spread of features at more affordable prices, chipping away at sales from both BYD and Tesla.

In February, Geely’s Xingyuan was the best sold car model in China, beating offerings from Tesla and BYD, according to data from Autohome. In the month before, Xiaomi’s YU7 SUV dethroned Tesla’s Model Y as the best sold car in China.

In its report, the CPCA noted that March’s finalized sales figures could provide a better gauge for the…

Politicians and auto industry leaders in the United States and Europe have long argued that state-sponsored subsidies for Chinese electric vehicle makers have distorted global competition.

A new report from research firm Rhodium Group challenges that assessment, saying structural advantages — not subsidies — are a key factor giving Chinese EV manufacturers an edge over Western automakers.

These structural efficiencies include vertical integration, larger production scale and lower overhead costs, which outweigh the effects of heavy state subsidies on the profit margins of Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers, according to Rhodium.

Since 2009, Chinese authorities have disbursed more than $29 billion in tax breaks and subsidies to manufacturers of electric consumer vehicles, according to estimates from MIT Technology Review.

These subsidies were “critically important in the early development of China’s EVs,” according to Bo Chen from the National University of Singapore, particularly for its nascent startups to gain access to much-needed funding.

“[Unlike] China, the U.S. capital market provides sufficient financial support to companies like Tesla,” Chen, a senior research fellow at the university’s East Asian Institute, said.

China’s dominance in the EV industry suggests that Beijing’s approach has delivered results.

These subsidies, along with an ethos of innovation and rapid development, have allowed Chinese EV manufacturers to pull ahead of legacy automakers from the West, Tu Le, founder of automotive consultancy Sino Auto Insights, said.

While Rhodium did not dispute the advantages conferred by China’s state subsidies, the firm said that cost advantages gained from subsidies — which Western automakers operating in China also benefited from — “remain[ed] small compared to the structural cost advantages.”

According to the report, greater vertical integration, in which a company controls multiple stages of production, is the “single most important factor” allowing Chinese automakers to lower EV costs without significantly sacrificing profit margins.

BYD, for example, produces nearly 80% of its core components in-house, more than double that of Tesla, according to Rhodium estimates, allowing the Chinese automaker to reap considerable savings in supplier markups on various components.

This allows BYD to save around $2,369 in supplier markups per unit of its Seal sedan compared with Tesla’s Model 3, according to the report.

Consequently, BYD was able to eke out a 20% gross profit margin in 2025, compared with Tesla’s 18%, even though the Model 3 sells for about 235,000 yuan ($33,943) in China, nearly triple the 79,800 yuan that BYD advertises for its…

Lucid Motors gets rave reviews from critics. But it’s sorely lacking customers.

That’s a problem the company can’t afford.

The Arizona-based EV maker has top-shelf tech, deep-pocketed backers, and highly praised cars. However, it has struggled to meet production targets, and has been unable to steal the spotlight away from established luxury brands with century-old pedigrees.

Lucid is ramping up production of its high-end, three-row, Gravity SUV, though it has sold only a few hundred units so far in 2025. The Gravity’s production ramp has faced a slew of challenges, primarily supply chain shortages.

Yet the company already has plans for another vehicle aimed more at the middle of the market, where it would compete with the top-selling Tesla Model Y SUV. And it’s investing in self-driving cars for consumers while working on a robotaxi fleet with Uber and self-driving tech maker Nuro.

In the process, Lucid is burning through a lot of money. The company’s third-quarter results were worse than Wall Street expected, with a net loss of close to $1 billion.

“Their gross profit has been getting kind of worse,” said Tom Narayan, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets. “A lot of people are doing the math. How long can the company keep losing cash?”

Adding to its challenges is a tougher environment for all EV manufacturers. Demand has fallen short of expectations, and many automakers are pulling back. EVs have lost key support from the federal government, including a $7,500 tax credit, funding for charging, and restrictions on state level programs that incentivize automakers to produce zero-emission vehicles.

A ‘fantastic car’

Lucid’s first vehicle, a sedan call the Air, is the most popular vehicle in its segment, according to Cox Automotive. Through the third quarter, it was the third best-selling full-size luxury sedan, and the top selling electric one, according to the company. The Air is frequently a “critic’s pick.” No other EV can touch the 512-mile range of the Air Grand Touring, one of its top trim levels.

Last year, Lucid delivered 10,241 vehicles, the majority of which were Air sedans, a 71% increase from 2023. U.S. EV leader Tesla delivered 1.8 million.

Unfortunately, sedans have consistently compared to SUVs, crossovers, and pickups–which now all but dominate the roads. Of the top 10 best-selling models in the U.S., seven are from those three segments, according to Edmunds.

“It was a fantastic car,” said Sam Abuelsamid, vice president of market research for Telemetry. “It still is a fantastic car. But it came to market at kind of the wrong time.”

In 2023, Tesla’s Model Y was the best-selling vehicle in the world, according to JATO Dynamics. It sold more than…

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A white 2025 Ford Expedition SUV with bronze exterior trim rolled off the assembly line at Ford Motor‘s Kentucky Truck Plant. It was assembled — from its frame to completion — by American workers at the factory. But it’s far from being completely “Made in the USA.”

A majority of its main parts — at least 58% as stated on a window sticker — were made outside the country, including 22% from Mexico. That includes its Ford-engineered, 3.5-liter twin-turbocharged V-6 Ecoboost engine, the heart of the vehicle.

The popular large SUV is a prime example of how complicated the global automotive supply chain is, and underscores the reality that even vehicles rolling off U.S. assembly lines from quintessentially American companies such as Ford can rely heavily on nondomestic content.

The massive Kentucky assembly plant, which has more than 9,000 people building the Expedition, F-Series pickup trucks and Lincoln Navigator SUV, is exactly the kind of facility President Donald Trump is pressuring automakers to build in the U.S. through his use of aggressive tariffs.

After Trump put 25% tariffs on imported vehicles and many automotive parts, automakers started scrambling to tout U.S. investments and localize supply chains as much as possible. But while the country would benefit from jobs and economic output if all auto parts were sourced and manufactured in the U.S., experts say it’s just not feasible.

“Some parts that have been offshored will still be cheaper to manufacture in those locations rather than the USA at scale even with some of the imposed tariffs,” said Martin French, a longtime supplier executive and partner at Berylls Strategy Advisors USA.

Processing and production plants for things such as steel, aluminum and semiconductor chips, especially older ones used for autos, as well as raw materials such as platinum and palladium, aren’t prevalent enough in the U.S. without establishing new plants or mines. Those are processes experts say would take a decade or more to create at scale.

On top of that, the increased costs of a 100% U.S.-made vehicle could price many consumers out of the new vehicle market. That could in turn lead to less demand and likely lower production.

“We can move everything to the U.S., but if every Ford is $50,000, we’re not going to win as a company,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said last week on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “That’s a balancing act that every [automaker] will have to do, even the most American company.”

Farley said 15% to 20% of commoditized vehicle parts are difficult, if not impossible, to source currently in the U.S. That includes things such as small fasteners, labor-intensive wiring harnesses and almost $5,000 in semiconductors per vehicle, which are currently sourced largely from Asia.

S&P Global Mobility reports there are on average 20,000 parts in a vehicle when it’s torn down to…