According to reports, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) recently rolled out a revised subsidy scheme for new energy vehicles. Under this new framework, BYD’s vehicle purchase subsidy in Japan has been dramatically slashed to 150,000 yen—less than half of the previous range of 350,000 to 400,000 yen. This places BYD at the lowest subsidy tier among local automakers. By contrast, the Toyota bZ4X qualifies for the maximum subsidy of 1.3 million yen, roughly ten times that of BYD. Subsidies for models from Nissan, Tesla, and other brands are also notably higher than those for BYD.

In this round of subsidy adjustments, BYD stands out as the only mainstream brand that has not seen its subsidy increase. The gap between BYD’s subsidy and those for Japanese and U.S. models in the same category reaches up to 950,000 yen. Atsuki Tofukuji, President of BYD Japan, voiced dissatisfaction, criticizing the lack of transparency and rationale behind the Japanese government’s electric vehicle subsidy evaluation process. Despite this setback, BYD has already established itself as a leader among imported brands in Japan across multiple fronts, including sales growth, the pace of product lineup expansion, and localization initiatives.