Chinese EV Maker Reeling Past All The Stops
Chinese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers BYD are having a moment across the world, winning over motorists and governments with affordable, and seemingly cutting-edge battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and new energy car production.
For much of last year, and perhaps the year before, BYD has been claiming its stake as one of the top EV producers and is now on the verge of overtaking American-based Tesla following the release of Q3 2023 sales and production figures.
Most recent figures revealed that in the third quarter of last year, the automaker had sold more than 432,000 new battery-powered passenger vehicles, only 3,000 shy of Tesla’s 435,000 for the same recorded period.
Now, as 2024 begins to unfold, the company isn’t holding back and is looking to further increase its presence in new markets across the world, including Europe, Australia, and parts of Africa.
Already this year, the company voluntarily announced total sales and production for January 2024, with roughly 36,174 new units sold overseas. The results may have surprised analysts, however, BYD is rapidly expanding, and geopolitical tension and trade policies aren’t holding them back.
Where In The World Is BYD?
Considering their success throughout much of 2022 and 2023, BYD is fast becoming a household name within the broader EV market, expanding in regions outside of both China and Asia.
This isn’t surprising, considering the company offers a lower-priced vehicle fleet compared to high-end names such as Tesla. BYD’s flagship model, the SUV BYD Atto 3 has a starting sticker price of roughly $40,570. Tesla on the other hand sells their Model 3, a popular choice among many EV drivers for roughly $48,740.
Despite the ongoing price wars, first initiated by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, hoping to compete against other true-American brands such as Ford and General Motors, BYD looks to be wiping the floor with other household brands, and they’re not in a position to stop any time soon.
BYD in Europe
The European market has a long-standing electric vehicle market, with the region accounting for roughly 30% of the global stock of plug-in passenger cars. By the end of last year, there were more than 11.8 million plug-in passenger vehicles scattered across Europe.
Earlier in February, BYD went on to showcase a new all-electric 1,200-horsepower luxury sport utility vehicle at the Geneva car show, with the key selling point being that the car can float on water, Bloomberg reported.
Elsewhere in Europe, the Italian government is trying to win over the Chinese automaker, as part of the country’s wider effort to attract a second car manufacturer Stellantis NV, maker of their well-known Fiat.
In January 2023, BYD launched the Atto 3 in the Italian market, with a listing price of roughly €41,990 ($45,960) excluding import taxes. A few miles north in Austria, BYD welcomed more than 1,024 new BYD passenger vehicle registrations in late February following the partnership with Austrian car distributor CCI Car Austria GmbH, a subsidiary of DENZEL Group.
In an interview at the Geneva International Motor Show, Managing Director of BYD Europe, Michael Shu said that the company has been in talks with several EU governments over recent months about building their first European plant. However, in early November last year, the company ultimately decided on a plant location in Hungary.
The move into Europe is a big deal for the continent’s wider EV market, and potentially car production industry, mainly following a survey by Bloomberg Intelligence that found roughly 83% of Europeans considered the prices of EVs as “too high.”
Although, not everything is always easy when doing business with both Europe and China. The march into the continent has been met with several challenges, outside of political tension. For starters, the availability of materials and supply chain constraints are mounting pressure on the company to keep costs as low as possible.
On top of this, higher labor costs in Europe compared to homeland China could hamper the long-term success of BYD across the market, as the company is considering all viable options to keep their overheads to a minimum, while still offering European motorists a cheaper, safer, and more stylish alternative to existing models.
BYD taking shape in Africa
Despite EV adoption being somewhat slower in Africa compared to other developed regions, BYD is taking a leap to bridge the gap for motorists on the continent looking for a cheaper and more accessible option when shopping for an EV or BEV passenger vehicle.
Since 2020 BYD and South African-based public transportation service provider, Golden Arrow Bus Services (GABS), one of the largest service providers in the country, have been testing two all-electric buses in the city of Cape Town.
The partnership comes after city officials have laid out a plan to create and provide more sustainable modes of transportation for residents. After more than three years of strict testing carried out by GABS, both the service provider and the city are now looking to move forward and introduce larger numbers of all-electric fleets onto city roads in the coming months.
In total, GABS operates more than 1,100 units of buses daily, and the move could become the push the city and country need toward a cleaner and more efficient public transportation system.
Still, in South Africa, BYD managed to enter the automotive market in early July 2023, following the introduction of the Standard Range and Extended Range variants of its Atto 3 model. Since then, the company has managed to branch out to other parts of the country, including major metropolitan areas such as Pretoria, Johannesburg, and Durban, a port city located on the Indian Ocean.
Elsewhere in Africa, the Chinese automaker is fast marching into the East African region with electric bus fleets and smaller assemblies taking place in both Rwanda and Kenya.
In Rwanda, BasiGo, one of the region’s biggest electric transit services, expanded into the country with an all-electric fleet, in the hopes of addressing the country’s fleet shortage.
Earlier in 2023, BasiGo partnered with the Associated Vehicle Assemblers (AVA) in Kenya to start the production of buses in Mombasa, Kenya. In March 2023, AVA announced that the automaker is looking to assemble more than 130 all-electric vehicles in Kenya in the coming years.
The move to enter the Eastern African region is part of a larger move by governments and officials to shift their focus towards more sustainable development in key parts of the region, and allow more accessibility to electric vehicle models across the African market.
BYD not interested in the U.S.
There’s perhaps a defining, and seemingly political track record that has kept BYD from entering the United States, and although the company is aware of this, they’re simply not interested in coming to the U.S. anytime soon.
In a February 2024 Yahoo Finance interview with BYD Executive Vice President and CEO of BYD Americas Stella Li said that both politics and the slowing electrification in the U.S. has created a lot of confusing arguments over whether the company is looking to enter the market any time soon.
In short, Li said, “No, we don’t have plans to come to the U.S.”
Expansion into the U.S. isn’t only seemingly restricted, however, the introduction of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) by President Biden has further deteriorated any chances of an all-electric fully Chinese-made car ever being driven on any American road.
In another interview with Bloomberg, Li said that the Inflation Reduction Act has made it increasingly challenging for BYD to enter the market, and has made affordable EVs inaccessible to most American consumers.
In mid-August 2022, Congress passed the IRA, allowing electric vehicle drivers to claim up to $7,500 in tax credits for purchasing clean energy vehicles. However, the act outlines certain domestic sourcing and manufacturing thresholds that are designed to help improve overall U.S. production of an all-American EV and further reduce the country’s reliance on China’s battery supply chain.
Although, BYD isn’t a complete stranger in the U.S. following an order of 130 all-electric buses by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation back in 2019. The BYD fleet is considered to be the largest single order of all-electric buses in the country, at the time, and had planned to assemble most of it in California.
BYD said that the partnership would meet the “Buy America” requirements, surpassing the requirements of more than 70% U.S. content.
Yet, BYD continues to have a presence closer to home than many of us may think. Late last year the company announced the opening of its Canadian assembly plant, hoping to capture the ever-growing EV market that has been taking shape in recent years.
Down south across the border in Mexico, the company recently announced that it’s looking at building an assembly plant, with the expectation to have a production capacity of 150,000 cars annually.
Mexico seems like a fairly reasonable option for the company, as the EV market is still young, up and coming and motorists have limited supply or access to electric vehicle fleets. Again, BYD Executive Vice President and CEO of BYD Americas Stella Li said that the Central American market continues to open new avenues for the company and that by erecting a plant in Mexico, the company could take advantage of these factors.
Finishing Off
Whether or not America is ready for the introduction of BYD in the coming years, other countries are instead taking advantage of BYD’s seemingly affordable price point, and ability to manufacture and distribute their vehicles and bus fleets across the world.
While Tesla, Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis continue to hold a fairly strong grip on both the American and European market, the ability to provide consumers with cheaper and long-range vehicles could perhaps become their downfall. Who knows, maybe Elon Musk is willing to further the margins of his fleets to help regain Tesla’s dominance as the market leader of EVs across the world.
