[Omkar]

The company passed Tesla in worldwide sales of fully electric cars late last year. BYD is building assembly lines in Brazil, Hungary, Thailand and Uzbekistan and preparing to do so in Indonesia and Mexico. It is rapidly expanding exports to Europe. And the company is on the cusp of passing Volkswagen Group, which includes Audi, as the market leader in China.

Based in Shenzhen, the hub of China’s electronics industry, BYD has shown how Chinese carmakers can tap the country’s dominance of electrical products. No company has benefited as much from China’s embrace of battery-electric cars and plug-in gasoline-electric cars. These vehicles together make up 40 percent of China’s car market, the world’s largest, and are expected to be more than half next year. Like most Chinese automakers, BYD doesn’t sell its cars in America because Trump-era tariffs remain in place, but BYD does sell buses in the United States.

BYD is leading China’s export push in electric cars, and is rapidly building the world’s largest car carrier ships to transport them. The first of the ships, the BYD Explorer No. 1, is on its maiden voyage from Shenzhen with 5,000 electric cars on board, and is expected to arrive in the Netherlands by Feb. 21.

Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla, warned about the strength of Chinese electric car exports in a company earnings call in January. “Frankly, I think if there are not trade barriers established, they will pretty much demolish most other companies in the world,” he said.

The rapid gains by BYD and other Chinese automakers in Europe have prompted a European Union investigation of Chinese government subsidies and could result in tariffs. BYD’s annual reports show a total of $2.6 billion in government assistance from 2008 through 2022. And that does not include other help, like making sure that taxi companies in BYD’s hometown buy only BYD electric cars.

China has built enough factories to make more than twice as many cars as its market can buy. That has led to a price war in China, particularly between BYD and Tesla, with discounting that has inflicted heavy losses. One of BYD’s newest models, the subcompact Seagull, starts at less than $11,000.

A real estate crisis and a falling stock market are now making Chinese consumers warier about buying a car at all. But BYD’s low manufacturing costs have left it in a better position than most rivals to survive any long slowdown in sales and industry shakeout.

Source - The New York Times

[TorqueIndia]

Some stats from 2023
BYD total sales : 3M units
BEV sales : 1.57M
Hybrids : 1.43M
Exports : 242K units.

Even though BYD is expanding swiftly, it's just a beginning outside China. Yeah it's doing well in with some scattered sales across the globe in 2023 and now entering many markets including Europe, asean and middle east with great confidence and stronger dealer support.

IMO 2024 will give a clearer picture, for instance many of the dealers bringing BYD into stronger markets are actually traditional Toyota and Honda dealers themselves backed with huge cash and expertise. Eg : Al futtaim group in middleast who's distributing BYD now in UAE & SAUDI.

For reference Toyota global hybrids+BEV sales were 3M units.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by TorqueIndia

IMO 2024 will give a clearer picture, for instance many of : Al futtaim group in middleast who's distributing BYD now in UAE & SAUDI.

For reference Toyota global hybrids+BEV sales were 3M units.

Very interesting that Al Futtaim Group has taken on BYD Distribution. Much of the Group’s success and vast fortune was built on the back of their 50 year old Toyota relationship. The Al Futtaim Group is blessed with both foresight and far sightedness. They surely do need a ‘foil’ and BYD is a perfect choice, so as to ensure ‘BCP’ in an attempt to secure their future, given the rise of EV’s.

[dhanushs]

BYD has proved that for Electric Vehicles, customers value the product as a package and not only the brand. Since the overall ecosystem is new, this makes sense. Like new electronic gadgets.

P.S - I have and still find it funny how someone can name their car company - Build Your Dreams. For me, it feels like a creative or a realty company. So much for car love in the future.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by dhanushs

P.S - I have and still find it funny how someone can name their car company - Build Your Dreams. For me, it feels like a creative or a realty company. So much for car love in the future.

Do view the history behind the ‘Wetsternization’ of the name.

https://www.carlogos.org/reviews/how...-its-name.html

Quote:
BYD (Chinese name:比亚迪, Chinese pinyin: biyadi) was originally named Yadi Electronics (at that time, to facilitate the company registration process more quickly, they named the company "Yadi Electronics."), and was founded in Yadi Village, Shenzhen City, China. Later, in response to the need to participate in exhibitions and other commercial promotions, the company added "Chinese name: 比, Chinese pinyin: Bi" before its original name to ensure it appeared at the top of the exhibitions list.
In an interview, BYD's founder Wang Chuanfu said he chose the name BYD because it was faster to register than any other possible option (When asked about the early days of BYD, founder Wang Chuanfu said, "It was very difficult, and we didn't know if we company would survive."). Although the company later used the initials for commercial purposes, which means "Build Your Dream," many local consumers dismissed the name (BYD) as mediocre and unclassy due to its homophonic pronunciation.
The name BYD has been quite controversial since the company entered the automobile industry in 2003 and appeared in the vision of mass consumers. At one point, BYD was regarded as a synonym for low quality and low price. However, after more than 20 years of development, the name BYD has become a prominent name card in the field of electric vehicles because the company has grown into an auto giant with annual revenue exceeding 200 billion yuan and a market value of 1 trillion yuan.
Today, BYD stands for "Build Your Dreams" and is the world's leading electric vehicle company, with proven innovative technology for cars, buses, trucks, and rail systems. The name represents the company's technological innovation in meeting people's yearning for a better life. UnQuote.

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by dhanushs

P.S - I have and still find it funny how someone can name their car company - Build Your Dreams. For me, it feels like a creative or a realty company. So much for car love in the future.

Noo too different in philosophy when you think that BYD was not originally a car manufacturer. Other such names like TCL - The Creative Life, LG - Lucky Goldstar and so on are equally amusing in terms of how they are coined.

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

Other such names like TCL - The Creative Life, LG - Lucky Goldstar and so on are equally amusing in terms of how they are coined.

Terribly offtopic.

Lucky Goldstar reminded me of the Hong Kong movie series of the 80s, Lucky Stars.

[ron178]

Originally Posted by dhanushs

P.S - I have and still find it funny how someone can name their car company - Build Your Dreams. For me, it feels like a creative or a realty company. So much for car love in the future.

Not according to their founder

Wang Chuanfu, born in 1965, is a remarkable man. His company BYD states that the acronym means “Build Your Dreams,” and they proudly write it out in full on most of their car models. However, in an interview long ago, Wang said that the letter combination had no specific meaning when he came up with it. Afterward, however, the interviewer states that a smiling Wang confided with him that the acronym really stands for “Bring Your Dollars.”

Source: CarNewsChina

[maddy42]

BYDs entry into India via the taxi segment is kind of a smart move to get more customers into their cars. It should be a scary prospect for a indian car maker to see the Enemy at the gate.

[kiku007]

Originally Posted by dhanushs

P.S - I have and still find it funny how someone can name their car company - Build Your Dreams. For me, it feels like a creative or a realty company.

It was really an afterthought. BYD boss Wang Chuanfu once joked it means, "Bring your dollars".

I think branding and communication is an area the Chinese automakers need to improve. The "BUILD YOUR DREAMS" logo on the ATTO3 and the "3.8S" variant labelling on the Seal are kind of cringe.

Speaking of branding, I was surprised to see Tesla replace the Tesla logo with the expanded T E S L A branding on the 2024 Model 3's boot. Remember that Tesla claims to love minimalism and I wonder why this change of mind.



BYD is only getting started on their global domination plan. A lot is spoken about vertical integration and Tesla. BYD owns lithium mines and makes their own batteries!! They are well supported by their government. Tough to beat that level of integration. Having said that, there's some areas needing improvement and a challenging EV landscape that's still evolving.

At the product level, I'm interested to see how BYD improves their in-car software and the tuning of their autonomous safety technology systems.

At the company level, I'm interested to see how BYD navigates the following headwinds,

• Slowing rate of growth for BEVs in some markets
• Anti-China sentiment in some countries
• Any punitive, anti-dumping measures against Chinese automakers
• If some markets decide to delay their automobile electrification targets

The media loves winners and losers. It makes for great stories. We've seen how Tesla was in the news for all the good reasons for a long time. However, in recent times not a fortnight goes by without a gloom report/article/video about Tesla or EVs in general. Many of these are factually correct too. BYD is the new winner and Tesla is the loser. Let's see how long this story goes. Competition is good for the consumer.

I'll share two great YT videos on how BYD outsmarted Tesla.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AdPwzaItFI&t=16s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ttu55nEtC6o&t=1s

[CarNerd]

BYD today is a global unstoppable phenomenon. It's like a dam full of water waiting to flood whichever market lets it in especially India. To know about the success of BYD, one just has to watch these two videos where BYD made Elon Musk eat his own words. Musk laughed at BYD 12 years ago but is crying for trade barriers today:

https://youtu.be/_9ftbRWqkj0?si=5tTco_QS-kn-mqka

https://youtu.be/ylquTUwlmNE?si=zOzZwWB2He1QNANo