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"Build Your Dreams":
BYD wants to sell electric vehicles in Germany and Sweden this year
Photo: REUTERS
It's hard to imagine that things will stay that way, but the Chinese electric car manufacturer BYD recently overtook the market leader Tesla with its sales figures in the first half of the year - also because the competitor in the Far East with its production facilities was largely spared from lockdowns.
Now the "Tesla hunter" wants to attack in Europe.
After BYD announced in July that it had found a distribution partner for the Netherlands, the carmaker now wants to enter the German and Swedish markets - and that before the end of the year.
To this end, the Chinese are entering into a partnership with the Swedish "Hedin Mobility Group", which it says is one of the largest European dealer groups with 235 sales locations in eight countries to date.
As announced by Hedin, the company intends to distribute and sell BYD vehicles in Sweden and Germany and offer related services.
Accordingly, BYD will start selling in October, and the first vehicles are to be delivered in the fourth quarter.
The first stores in selected major cities are to show a selection of models from October.
It is not yet known which models BYD will offer at what price.
The manufacturer wants to set up a German (www.bydauto.de) and a Swedish website in August.
BYD electric cars are among the most popular in China
In China, BYD's electric cars are among the most popular, just ahead of Tesla, with a market share of 15.5 percent (as of April).
According to earlier information, BYD wants to sell up to 200,000 electric cars on the European market in the coming year.
The group produces vehicles at more than 30 locations worldwide and also manufactures electric buses, trucks and vans.
The announcement by BYD represents the advance of Chinese electric car manufacturers on the world market.
Particularly in Europe, where corporations such as Volkswagen and Renault are also suffering from a lack of chips and supply bottlenecks, manufacturers from the Far East are currently trying to conquer market shares.
manager magazin reported on the development in a comprehensive industry report.
BYD has been building vehicles for around two decades and was founded in 1995 by the Chinese chemist
Wang Chuanfu
(56) as a battery manufacturer.
According to the "Financial Times", the group has now moved up to second place behind CATL in the ranking of the world's largest battery cell manufacturers.
BYD also produces batteries for mobile devices.
The Chinese conglomerate achieved sales of the equivalent of around 30 billion euros last year, and net income fell to 429 million euros.
The conglomerate BYD is currently worth around 101 billion euros on the stock exchange. In the past six months, the share has risen more than 30 percent against the weak overall trend.
For comparison: Volkswagen, the largest European car manufacturer, currently has a market capitalization of around 86 billion euros.
The preferred shares of Wolfsburg listed in the Dax have lost a good 25 percent of their value in the past six months.
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