Major Banks Ratings | Goldman Sachs: BYD and XPeng Rated "Buy," Benefiting from Overseas Market Expansion

Glonghui, January 9｜Goldman Sachs released a report stating that it recently held the China Auto 2026 Management Outlook Series Conference, which included 10 online meetings covering six OEMs, two parts suppliers, and one dealer. Participating companies included SAIC Motor, GAC Group, Xiaomi, Leapmotor, Great Wall Motor, and Seres, among others. The bank observed four core themes in the Chinese auto industry: (1) company management generally maintains a conservative outlook on total industry volume; (2) almost all OEMs expect double-digit sales growth for their own businesses and are increasing overseas expansion efforts; (3) the pace of new model launches is active, with competition in the high-end market becoming significantly more intense; (4) all segments of the automotive industry chain may face potential pricing and profit margin pressures. Goldman Sachs expects retail sales of new energy vehicles in China to grow by about 10% in 2026. Regarding different price ranges, most companies believe that subsidies for models priced above 170,000 to 180,000 yuan will remain largely unchanged, but subsidies for lower-priced models will decrease significantly under the new policy. The bank gives BYD and XPeng Motors a “Buy” rating due to their relative advantages and their benefit from higher overseas market sales expansion.