China is officially the world’s largest car exporter with 4.91 million vehicles in 2023, which is one million vehicles more than the previous leader, Japan. Their largest car manufacturer, BYD, became one of the top 10 largest manufacturers in the world last year with 3,024,417 vehicles produced. This company is trying to expand its business beyond the borders of China, and their first target is the European market, where they are lagging behind the competition. However, that could change as BYD has decided to cut the prices of its cars in Europe by 15%.

According to sales reports, the Chinese company sold only 4,139 cars in Germany last year, while Tesla sold 63,685 vehicles, and Volkswagen as the market leader reached the number of 519,089 vehicles. BYD’s best-selling model, the ATTO 3, arrived in the EU in 2022 with a price of around 47,000 euros. However, thanks to the new decision, the new starting price of this electric SUV is 39,950 euros, which is less than the competitors Volkswagen ID.4 (43,900 euros) and Tesla Model Y (44,899 euros).

How serious a player BYD is is also shown by the fact that it invests 14 billion dollars in the development of advanced technology, especially the ADAS system, which will make its cars safer on the road. The company also invests in marketing, thus becoming an official partner of UEFA Euro 2024, which will be held in Germany this summer.

Transporting cars to distant markets is currently one of the biggest problems for most manufacturers. BYD also has a solution for that because it has its own transport ship (BYD Explorer No.1) built by a local company, which is currently on its way to Europe with 7,000 loaded cars.

Whether and how much the new decision will affect buyers of new cars in Europe cannot be said with certainty, but in the current economic situation where a large number of the world’s population is, it could be decisive.

Source: BYD

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