Chinese BYD Surpasses US Tesla, Announces Entry into Europe

Three Models Unveiled at Paris Motor Show, Official Sales in Six Countries Including Germany
Expected to Sell Around 1.7 Million Units This Year, Likely to Become World's No.1 Electric Vehicle Company

[Asia Economy Senior Reporter Cho Young-shin] BYD, the No. 1 electric vehicle manufacturer in China, is entering Europe starting with the '2022 Paris Motor Show.' BYD is the world's first automaker to officially cease production of internal combustion engine vehicles (gasoline and diesel) in April to focus solely on electric vehicle production.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

According to Chinese media such as Guancha.cn and Shanghai Securities News on the 5th, BYD will unveil its electric vehicles Han, Tang, and Atto 3 at the Paris Motor Show held in France from the 17th to the 23rd, and then begin official sales in Europe.

BYD will initially sell these three models in six countries: Norway, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany. Earlier in August, BYD signed a dealership contract with Hedin Mobility, the largest car dealer in Europe. Chinese media expect that the three BYD models will be shipped as early as this month and delivered to European consumers by the end of this year at the latest.

To support its overseas expansion, BYD even changed its official website address from 'www.byd.com' to 'www.bydglobal.com.' Guancha.cn evaluated this as a sign of BYD's strong intention to enter the global market.

The European sales prices are reportedly set higher than the Mercedes-Benz E-Class gasoline model. Guancha.cn estimated that the European sales price for the Han and Tang will be around 72,000 euros (approximately 120.16 million KRW), and the Atto 3 will be priced around 38,000 euros (54 million KRW).

Chui Dongsu, Secretary of the China Passenger Car Market Information Joint Conference, said, "The price difference between European electric vehicles and comparable fossil fuel vehicles is about 50%, whereas Chinese electric vehicles have a 20% difference," indicating that Chinese electric vehicles have higher price competitiveness compared to European electric vehicles.

Guancha.cn also explained that the batteries, which largely determine electric vehicle prices, are competitive. Among the world's top 10 battery manufacturers, six are Chinese companies, with CATL (Ningde Times) and BYD ranked first and second respectively.

BYD's dream of entering Europe is fueled by its domestic sales. Last month, BYD sold 201,259 electric vehicles, surpassing 200,000 units in monthly sales for the first time. The cumulative sales up to September reached 1.18 million units, a remarkable 250% increase compared to the same period last year. In the third quarter (July to September), BYD sold 537,164 units, nearly 200,000 units more than Tesla in the U.S., which sold 343,800 units.

Shanghai Securities News reported that BYD plans to produce a total of 665,000 units in the fourth quarter alone (206,000 units in October, 219,000 units in November, and 240,000 units in December), estimating that BYD's total electric vehicle production this year will be around 1.7 million units.

BYD currently has production bases in eight locations including Shenzhen, Xi’an, Changsha, Fuzhou, Hefei, and Zhengzhou. When all eight production lines are operating normally, the annual production capacity is expected to reach between 3 million and 3.5 million units.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.