How big are BYD's ambitions?
Recently, at the "Future of Automobiles" summit held by the British media "Financial Times", Shu Youxing, general manager of BYD's European car sales division, said that BYD aims to surpass Volkswagen, Tesla and Stellantis by 2030 and become the largest electric vehicle seller in the European market.
In order to achieve this goal, Shu Youxing revealed that BYD is preparing a large-scale investment plan in Europe, with an investment amount of up to billions of euros, covering factories, sales network construction and brand marketing. He stressed that the long-term strategy is to move away from relying on long-distance transportation and towards the production of vehicles in Europe to improve efficiency and competitiveness.
Speak up
Judging from Shu Youxing's speech, BYD has dominated the Chinese market and seems to have sufficient confidence to dominate Europe. The Financial Times commented that Europe is one of the most competitive car markets in the world, and Shu Youxing's remarks are by far BYD's "boldest" expression of its ambitions for the European market.
Earlier, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said at an automotive industry conference that France would welcome the decision of Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD to open a factory in France. "France welcomes all industrial projects, including BYD and other Chinese companies in the automotive industry." Lemaire said.
From the perspective of the Chinese market, in the past two years, Chinese car companies have accelerated the process of globalization. According to the Passenger Car Association, with the emergence of the scale advantage of China's new energy vehicles and the demand for market expansion, more and more new energy product brands made in China are going abroad, and their overseas recognition continues to increase.
In the domestic market, BYD has reached an unprecedented height. In 2023, BYD sold 3024417 units for the whole year, a year-on-year increase of 61.9%. BYD's annual sales exceeded the target of 3 million units set at the beginning of the year, and not only won the annual sales championship of Chinese automobiles in one fell swoop, but also won the global sales championship of new energy vehicles. Therefore, BYD has the confidence and strength to expand the global market.
BYD has already taken a major step forward in Europe, with its first European car plant set to start production in Hungary next year, and plans to start studying the location of a second plant in the coming months. Shu Youxing also announced that BYD plans to introduce an affordable electric vehicle based on the Seagull platform to Europe, which is expected to cost less than 20,000 euros, to attract consumers with a people-friendly price strategy.
Can it be achieved?
Pinhui Automobile interviewed Zhang Xiang, secretary general of the International Intelligent Vehicle Technology Association, who said that BYD wants to achieve the above goals, from the perspective of technical reserves and comprehensive strength, it is possible. Because BYD is currently the world's largest new energy vehicle company, ranking tenth in the world last year.
"BYD started early in the field of new energy vehicles, and its relevant technical reserves exceed those of other car companies, and it can develop and manufacture batteries by itself, as well as core components such as motors, electronic controls, and automotive chips. Based on this, BYD's electric vehicles are highly intelligent and cost-effective. Compared with European car companies, it has certain technical advantages. Moreover, BYD's sales of pure electric vehicles in 2023 have surpassed Tesla's. Zhang Xiang said.
Of course, BYD's entry into Europe is not an easy road. As early as 2021, BYD began to sell cars in Europe, with its first stop in Norway. According to data, in 2023, BYD will only sell 15,588 cars in Europe; Tesla's total sales reached 365,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 56%. Judging from the comparison of sales, the gap between BYD and Tesla is not small.
Zhang Xiang also mentioned the difficulties of BYD's entry into Europe. First of all, the lack of overseas production bases has limited BYD's layout in the European market, and now BYD cars are mainly exported from China to Europe, but Tesla has factories in Europe, so that the production cost is lower and the transportation cycle is shorter. This will also make it difficult for BYD to resist possible trade protection measures, making it more difficult for products to enter the European market. At present, the EU has launched a countervailing investigation against Chinese automakers and raised tariffs.
Secondly, compared with Tesla, BYD has a certain gap in international popularity. BYD's sales are mainly contributed by the domestic market, while more than 50% of Tesla's sales are sold overseas.
brief summary
On the whole, with the intensification of competition in the industry and the progress of technology, BYD needs to continuously improve the competitiveness and brand influence of its products to meet future market challenges. Of course, despite these challenges, BYD still has the potential to consolidate and expand its leadership position in the global new energy vehicle market by relying on its strong technology research and development capabilities and continuous market expansion strategy.
Zhang Xiang also suggested that Chinese car companies should seize the opportunity to go overseas as soon as possible, because time is pressing. Although Chinese automakers have achieved corner overtaking, international auto giants are also catching up, such as Volkswagen and Stellantis, which have taken the approach of investing in Chinese automakers and directly purchasing technology to shorten the gap with China's electric vehicles. Therefore, in order to remain competitive, Chinese automakers also need to accelerate the pace of technological innovation, seize the opportunity of industrial opening-up, seek international cooperation, and avoid being overtaken by international auto giants.