New Car Priced Around 14 Million Won... Chinese BYD's Aggressive Low-Price Strategy

Chin Plus DM-i, Destroyer05 Owner Edition
Announced Launch at 79,800 Yuan Sparking Price Competition

The world's largest electric vehicle manufacturer BYD is accelerating its low-price offensive by launching a new car priced in the 14 million KRW range.

According to China's First Financial Daily on the 19th, BYD announced that it will launch the plug-in hybrid sedan 'Qin Plus DM-i' and the 'Destroyer 05' Owner Edition at 79,800 yuan (approximately 14.78 million KRW). In the case of the Qin Plus DM-i, the price has been reduced by 20% compared to the previous version.

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

Earlier, a year ago in February last year, BYD also lowered the vehicle price below 100,000 yuan, leading price competition with Tesla, spearheaded by the Qin Plus DM-i. Due to this price offensive, this model sold more than 400,000 units last year, ranking first in sales among China's A-class sedans.

BYD's choice is interpreted as a strategy to secure market share amid the recent slowdown in automobile sales growth in China. According to the China Passenger Car Association, retail sales of passenger cars in China last month recorded 2.035 million units, a 13.9% decrease compared to the previous month. Due to the slowdown in China's economic recovery and other factors, durable goods sales in China have recently shown a sluggish trend.

Wang Chuanfu, chairman of BYD, also mentioned the rapid market changes and intensifying competition at the 'High-Quality Development Conference' held yesterday in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. Chairman Wang said, "The current transformation of the automobile industry is already submerged in deep water," adding, "The electrification transformation is running on the fast lane, and the intelligent transformation has shifted gears and started to accelerate." He continued, "The development of new energy vehicles will only run faster; it will not give us a chance to stop, slow down, or catch our breath." He also forecasted that the electric vehicle market share in the automobile market, which was around 40% at the end of last year, will exceed 50% this year.

BYD's strategy is to expand its stage from mainly the domestic market to the export market, led by price competitiveness. BYD, which had an export volume of about 242,000 units last year, raised its target to 400,000 units this year. The First Financial Daily emphasized, "Price cuts by leading new energy vehicle companies will intensify market competition," and "Capturing more market share has become the key to future growth in the new energy vehicle industry."

Earlier, Tesla also lowered prices for new models this year. On the 12th of last month, Tesla reduced the price of the Model Y rear-wheel-drive model by 7,500 yuan from 266,400 yuan, and the Model Y Long Range version by 6,500 yuan from 306,400 yuan, respectively.

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