(Yicai) Sept. 22 -- Against the backdrop of intensified competition in the Chinese new energy vehicle industry, BYD is recruiting thousands of workers for its Xi’an manufacturing base, offering hefty signing bonuses.

BYD is hiring more than 8,000 employees for multiple business units across its production lines in Xi’an, according to data from official sources, including the city’s human resources and social security bureau and the Xi’an High-Tech Zone Human Resources Industry Association.

BYD’s recruitment effort this time targets a high proportion of skilled workers in welding, painting, and final assembly, offering a maximum monthly salary of CNY10,000 (USD1,490) and a signing bonus of up to CNY6,000 (USD895), Feng Lei, director of the Huoshi Creation Industry Research Institute, told Yicai. This indirectly confirms that the production base is rapidly raising output, he noted.

The recruitment plan is mainly driven by the need of BYD’s Xi’an base to hire workers to quickly resume production and gradually increase output after production line upgrading. Many employees were sent to other BYD factories in China when part of the Xi’an base halted production in the first half of the year.

All four production parks of BYD’s Xi’an production base have resumed operations, making an important contribution to BYD’s overall monthly sales in August, which reached a new high of 440,000 vehicles, Feng said.

The Xi’an production base is BYD’s largest, with a total annual production capacity of 1.5 million cars. Its output exceeded one million units in 2024.

It is difficult for the annual production of the Xi’an base to return to the peak level in 2024 after it fully resumes operations because cars manufactured there are not only for exported products in high demand but also domestic products with fierce market competition, according to Feng.

The source of BYD’s sales growth has gradually shifted to overseas markets, Feng pointed out. The company exported record 189,000 vehicles in August, up 134 percent from a year earlier. However, its domestic sales dropped about 14 percent to 252,000 vehicles in the period.

Overall, the output rebound at the Xi’an production base is mainly driven by increased export orders and the resumption of production after the production line retrofitting was completed, Feng said. Even though the short-term data is impressive, the key to whether this can continue depends on whether the increase in exports can constantly offset the decline in domestic market demand, he added.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione