2023-07-31 14:44:17
BYD. Three letters, and an exhortation, formulated in English: « Build your dreams ». In less than thirty years, reality has far exceeded the wildest of dreams. Last year, the company founded in 1995 by Wang Chuanfu, a young visionary engineer, downright tripled its sales in the Chinese market. In the first quarter of 2023, it overtook Volkswagen there, with more than 440,000 vehicles sold, against 427,000 for the German, which remained the leader for fourteen years.
► From batteries to electric cars
Incredible adventure than that of BYD. When Wang Chuanfu, a peasant extraction scientist, orphaned at 15, left his non-ferrous metals research laboratory in the mid-1990s, it was first to engage in rechargeable batteries for electronics. general public, by borrowing the equivalent of €300,000 from a cousin.
The automotive shift only took place in 2003. Sensing that the sector was on the verge of a revolution, he bought out a struggling Chinese manufacturer, Qinchuan Auto. It develops hybrid vehicles, others entirely electric, then in 2022 definitively abandons thermal engines.
BYD is now playing in the court of the very big automakers. Especially since its batteries no longer only find a place in mobile phones, computers or DIY tools, but now occupy a central place – including in terms of value – in electric cars.
► A small electric city car for less than €10,000
The ascent does not seem about to stop. Because BYD presented in April, during the last Motor Show in Shanghai, a new small electric model, the Seagull (the Seagull), marketed in China for the equivalent of 9,600 €. Enough to complete a strategy on this market aimed at offering cars to as many people as possible with good value for money.
Under these conditions, experts estimate that BYD could, in the short term, overtake the pioneer Tesla on the world electric market, which in 2022 remained number 1 with 1.3 million vehicles sold (compared to 911,000 for the giant Chinese).
It is also partly to counter BYD’s offensive that Elon Musk’s company recently reduced its prices, with, in France, a drop of several thousand euros on certain cars, such as the Model 3 and Model Y, now displayed at less than €40,000 (after deduction of the ecological bonus).
► Top of the range at reasonable prices
The Chinese giant has so far chosen a positioning on the European market « premium accessible ». In other words, he is trying to seduce the Old Continent with top-of-the-range vehicles offered at prices he considers reasonable (around €40,000 all the same for his Atto 3 compact SUV and around €70,000 for its large sedan Han).
The next stage of its offensive will surely be the construction of a factory in Europe. Hence the initiative of Bruno Le Maire, this July 31 in Shenzhen. The Minister of the Economy came to praise the merits of France and more particularly of Hauts-de-France, where a whole ecosystem is being built up at high speed around the electric car, with in particular four mega-battery factories and an all-electric center set up by Renault.
► France in competition with other European countries
BYD will have to at least produce in Europe if it wants its vehicles to be eligible for the new ecological bonus that the French government wants to apply from January 2024. This system should include an “environmental score” taking into account the CO2 emissions generated during the manufacture of cars (which in China remains very dependent on coal) and their transport.
Apart from France, other countries are frequently mentioned in the press as possible locations for BYD’s future European site, Germany, Spain, Hungary and Poland.
The opportunities and challenges are enormous in the field of electric cars. Indeed, for environmental purposes, the Europeans have decided to prohibit from 2035 the marketing of new vehicles with internal combustion engines (1).
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