Bro, sit down so you don't fall off your chair! The Chinese from BYD, who last year sold 4.6 million cars and ranked sixth globally, announced that in five years they want to be the biggest car manufacturers on the planet. That's what President Wang said at the general shareholders' meeting in Shenzhen, with about 1,000 people in the room. Only, bro, while he's dreaming, their sales dropped over 20% in the first five months of the year, and shares have crashed: in Hong Kong they lost 45% in the last year, and in Shenzhen 33%. Wednesday morning they had fallen another 4.3% in Hong Kong and 1.6% in Shenzhen. I mean, boss, you're all over the place: you announce you'll become world leader, but the markets crush you. I'm thinking about my 2008 BMW: at least that one knows it's old, it doesn't pretend to be the coolest car in traffic. Same story here: big talk, empty pockets.

Wang says the main issue is the production of the latest generation Blade batteries – the new ones, made to charge fast. He says they'll speed up production and that exports are strong, plus technological progress. And indeed, exports grew 65% from January to May 2026 compared to the same period last year: Brazil, the UK, and Australia are the biggest markets because they didn't impose too high import taxes. But, bro, the export growth didn't cover the slump in China, where sales are worse. Same with us: you brag about selling abroad, but at home nobody's buying. Mioara says she does the same when she goes to Lidl: she looks at discounts, not dreams.

To become world leader, BYD must overtake Toyota, which last year sold over twice as many cars – about 9-10 million. Toyota lost ground in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, where the Chinese have pushed hard this year, says the Chinese Automobile Manufacturers Association. But, bro, jumping from 6th to 1st in five years, when you're falling and the other guy is twice as big... that's how I feel when I say I'll buy a new BMW this year, but actually I barely have money for diesel for the old one. Let's be serious: maybe they'll succeed, maybe not. We'll live and see.

For now, BYD shares are dropping like stones, and I'm looking at my 2008 BMW and saying: at least I paid for this one once, no more installments to Relu. Let me go tell Brian that if he wants a car, he'd better get a beater like mine and dream quietly about the Chinese.