BYD targets India’s burgeoning EV market


BYD, which entered India in 2007, plans to launch its third electric model, the Seal luxury sedan, by the fourth quarter of 2023, Gopalakrishnan said. The company introduced its first EV, the Atto 3 crossover, last year. It plans to sell 15,000 electric vehicles this year.

The company’s expansion comes at a time when India is stepping up its scrutiny of Chinese companies. Great Wall Motors, which had planned to invest his $1 billion in India, unsuccessfully tried to buy a closed General Motors (GM) plant after failing to get government approval. The government is also investigating his MG Motor India, a division of Chinese automaker SAIC Motor Corp., for alleged financial improprieties.

Gopalakrishnan said BYD has positioned itself as a “global” technology powerhouse, overcoming the barriers to doing business in India as a Chinese company and bringing “trust to its customers.”

India is a value-oriented market, but BYD will prioritize introducing more expensive vehicles to showcase “premium” technology before slowly working its way toward mass-market vehicles, he said. I was. Mr Gopalakrishnan said that with 41% of his 3.8 million vehicles sold in India last year priced above his Rs 1 million, consumers are no longer so price sensitive.

The automaker is currently assembling vehicles at its factory in the southern city of Chennai. Gopalakrishnan said he will consider adding more manufacturing facilities if demand increases in the next two to three years. With an increase in personnel and his two shifts, the company’s Chennai plant will be able to produce 50,000 vehicles per year.

BYD has invested $200 million in electronics and auto factories in India, he said. Despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Make in India” push, BYD has no immediate plans to localize battery production and will continue to import.


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