"The head of a Japanese automaker admitted: 'Now it's BYD that I'm most afraid of.'"
This quote comes from a recent report by the Nikkei Shimbun. Foreign automakers have clearly realized that in the field of electric vehicles, BYD is a strong competitor that is difficult to ignore.
BYD continues to drop one technical "shock bomb" after another: blade battery, CTB, Yi Sifang, Yunchen... In the first quarter of this year, BYD's domestic sales surpassed the German Volkswagen, which has been in the first place for more than a decade, and became China's best-selling car brand.
▲BYD frequently releases new technologies that shock the industry
BYD's exports are soaring.
In the first quarter, China exported 1.07 million vehicles, surpassing Japan to become the world's largest automobile exporter. From January to April this year, BYD's passenger car exports were close to that of last year, including 15,000 units in April, a year-on-year increase of 15.5 times.
BYD's electric buses have dominated the world for many years, and now passenger cars are going to sea strongly, detonating markets in various countries all the way to the west.
BYD's ATTO 3 (Yuan PLUS) went on sale in Thailand in November last year and won the top spot in electric vehicle sales from January to April this year, with one model alone accounting for 45.6% of Thailand's electric vehicle market share.
ATTO 3 dominates the electric vehicle market in Thailand (according to autolifethailand)
In Singapore and New Zealand, ATTO 3 also won the top spot in electric vehicle sales in April; In Australia, the ATTO 3, which was launched at the end of last year, quickly rushed to the second place in the list of electric vehicle sales.
In Israel, the ATTO 3 has performed even more amazingly, dominating the sales list of all models for 6 consecutive months, and an electric car has become the best-selling model in Israel.
▲BYD's sales store in Israel (picture from the Internet)
Since the beginning of this year, ATTO 3 has been sold in Japan and Europe, including the United Kingdom, Germany, and Italy. For consumers in these countries, BYD is still an unfamiliar car brand, but BYD's electric vehicles have appeared in the local area and attracted great attention from the media in various countries.
The Financial Times commented: Excellent vertical integration, deep battery foundation and perseverance have made BYD competitive in the field of electric vehicles; Compared to Tesla, BYD is not well known internationally, but auto industry executives know that it is only a matter of time before China dominates the global electric vehicle market.
British car media TopGear said in the ATTO 3 review article: BYD's car is getting better and better, ATTO 3 pricing is comparable to competitors, the configuration is higher, it is worth the money.
TopGear also specially introduced the blade battery, eight-in-one electric drive assembly, and praised: BYD can do everything, batteries, motors, electronic equipment, chips, software are all developed and manufactured by itself, and they are very advanced.
▲TopGear test BYD ATTO 3 (picture from TopGear website)
German automotive media AutoBild said in introducing ATTO 3: BYD is a technology pioneer and a threat to the industry. BYD is not only a leader in battery technology, but also the most vertically integrated manufacturer in the automotive industry, making its own motors, electronic control systems and electronics, as well as seat belts, airbags, audio and wipers, in addition to engines and transmissions.
Battery technology, vertical integration - these are the two keywords given by foreign media when evaluating BYD.
Perhaps the point made in the Nikkei report is more thorough. The reason why Japanese automakers see BYD as the most formidable rival is because BYD "is also a traditional automaker" and "because BYD is targeting overseas markets in an orthodox way, it is a big threat to existing companies." ”
▲Japanese media test drive BYD ATTO 3 (picture from the Internet)
In other words, BYD is the traditional automaker that knows electric vehicles best, and at the same time, it is the electric vehicle manufacturer that understands traditional cars best - perhaps this is BYD's "stunt" that really makes multinational auto giants shudder.