News

BYD Doesn’t Want Market Share—It Wants Market Control

When Stella Li talks, Europe’s legacy automakers would be wise to keep the room quiet. As executive vice president of BYD and the woman steering the Chinese giant’s European offensive, Li isn’t pitching a hopeful startup story. She’s outlining a takeover plan.

“We want to be at the top of the automotive industry,” she says. “If we succeed in Europe, we will succeed everywhere in the world.”

That’s not bravado. In 2025, BYD sits atop the global EV sales charts, having definitively nudged Tesla out of the volume lead. The company has also climbed to seventh among the world’s largest automotive groups, overtaking Ford Motor Company in the process. January numbers show its European momentum still trending upward.

But Li insists Europe isn’t China. And that’s precisely the point.

Quality Over Quantity

In its home market, BYD floods segments with variations the way legacy brands once did with trim levels. Europe, Li argues, demands something different.

“Europe is looking for quality, not quantity.”

That’s a subtle but important shift. Instead of overwhelming buyers with a sprawling catalog, BYD is focusing on tightening product positioning, elevating perceived quality, and embedding itself as a long-term player—not a tariff-dodging opportunist.

And yes, tariffs are part of the conversation. BYD’s upcoming Hungarian factory is more than symbolic. It’s strategic insulation. Local production not only blunts customs disadvantages but also signals commitment. If Europe wants a sub-urban, ultra-compact EV category revival, Li says BYD can spin one up quickly—and build it inside the EU.

“We’re a Tech Company”

If this all sounds familiar, that’s because it should. Like Tesla, BYD frames itself less as an automaker and more as a technology conglomerate. The difference? Where Tesla leans heavily into AI, autonomy, and robotics, BYD’s advantage runs deeper into the hardware stack.

“We are not just a car manufacturer, but a technology company,” Li says.

She’s not exaggerating. BYD produces components for roughly a third of the world’s smartphones and supplies batteries to numerous Western brands. The company employs over 100,000 engineers and files 45 patent applications per day. That’s less “car company” and more industrial-scale R&D machine.

And its technical claims aren’t just PowerPoint fodder.

Take the “cell-to-body” construction, which integrates the battery directly into the vehicle structure, boosting torsional rigidity by roughly a third. Or the so-called “flash chargers” capable of adding 400 kilometers (about 250 miles) of range in five minutes. Even the Denza brand’s high-speed tire blowout stabilization tech—designed to maintain control at 180 km/h—reads like a quiet flex aimed at German autobahn sensibilities.

Plug-In Hybrids? Yes. EVs? Obviously.

Unlike some EV purists, BYD isn’t betting on a single outcome.

“At BYD, we are ready for any scenario,” Li explains.

That means plug-in hybrids with over 1,000 kilometers of combined range alongside a full battery-electric lineup. In a Europe where charging infrastructure and political winds vary by country, hedging isn’t weakness—it’s market literacy.

This flexibility could prove critical if EV adoption softens or regulatory pressure shifts. While competitors debate all-electric timelines, BYD is content selling whatever the customer wants—so long as it’s built around its own batteries and components.

The Brand Ladder

Four years into its European push, BYD sees brand positioning as mission number one. Expansion into sub-brands will follow.

Denza—which previously collaborated with Mercedes-Benz—is earmarked as the premium spearhead in selected markets. Yangwang, BYD’s ultra-luxury and performance offshoot, will take longer to establish.

That staggered rollout reflects patience—something critics don’t often associate with fast-scaling Chinese automakers. But BYD isn’t entering Europe as a bargain-basement disruptor. It wants margin, prestige, and technological credibility.

The Big Picture

Here’s the uncomfortable truth for Europe’s incumbents: BYD doesn’t need to prove it can build cars. It needs to prove it can build trust.

If Li is right—and Europe is the ultimate validation test—then success here becomes a global stamp of approval. If BYD can win over buyers in Germany, France, and the Nordics, it can win anywhere.

And judging by its sales trajectory, engineering scale, and factory footprint, this isn’t a speculative moonshot. It’s a methodical campaign.

The message from Stella Li is clear: BYD didn’t come to Europe to participate.

It came to lead.

Source: Euronews

News

Lamborghini Pulls the Plug on Lanzador EV Dream, Eyes Hybrid Salvation Instead

In Sant’Agata Bolognese, where V-12s are treated with the reverence of fine art and downshifts count as musical notes, the idea of building a fully electric Lamborghini was always going to be controversial. Now it’s apparently canceled.

Nearly three years after Lamborghini unveiled the Lanzador concept—a rakish, lifted 2+2 grand tourer meant to preview the brand’s first EV—the company is backing away from the all-electric fantasy. Internally, executives have reportedly come to view the project as an “expensive hobby,” and not the kind that ends with record profits and champagne for shareholders.

When the Lanzador debuted in 2023, it was billed as the dawn of a new era. Production was penciled in for 2028. The message was clear: even raging bulls would eventually graze on electrons. But three years of market analysis, customer feedback, and cold financial math have reshaped that narrative. Lamborghini’s clientele—those who treat naturally aspirated fury as a birthright—have shown what insiders describe as near-total resistance to a model without a combustion engine.

According to CEO Stephan Winkelmann, Lamborghini buyers insist on an “emotional connection” that, in their view, EVs struggle to provide. Translation: silence is not golden when you’re spending seven figures on a supercar. The bark, the vibration, the mechanical violence—that’s the product.

So rather than push forward with a battery-powered flagship that risks alienating its core audience (and torching margins in the process), Lamborghini appears ready to pivot. If the Lanzador makes it to production at all, expect a plug-in hybrid powertrain—likely centered around a V-8 or even a V-12—pairing internal combustion with electric assistance. In other words, electrons as enhancers, not replacements.

That approach mirrors the broader strategy inside the Volkswagen Group ecosystem. Under the Audi umbrella, Lamborghini must juggle two realities: tightening EU emissions regulations and a customer base that still wants explosions in the cylinders. Plug-in hybrids offer a convenient compromise. They keep the accountants in the green and the tachometer needle happily swinging past 8000 rpm.

The next-generation Lamborghini Urus is also expected to follow that formula before the decade closes, blending a combustion engine with electric assistance to satisfy regulators without muting the brand’s personality. It’s a pragmatic move in a segment where performance SUVs have become profit centers as much as halo cars.

For now, the all-electric Lamborghini remains a concept—literally. The Lanzador may have previewed a possible future, but the present reality is more conservative. In Sant’Agata, they’ve apparently decided that building a silent bull isn’t bold. It’s just bad business.

And if Lamborghini’s customers have anything to say about it, the future will still sound like thunder.

Source: Lamborghini

Restomod

Evoluto F355 Is Light, Loud, and Almost Sold Out

There’s a fine line between preservation and provocation in the restomod world. Coventry-based Evoluto Automobili has decided to ignore that line entirely and redraw it in carbon fibre.

Its latest creation—the 355 by Evoluto—is what happens when you take a mid-’90s Ferrari icon, subject it to 12 months of engineering scrutiny, 5000 miles of track abuse, and then hand the styling pen to Ian Callum. The result is a 420bhp, 1250kg love letter to the analog era, sharpened for 2026.

A Shape You Know, A Surface You Don’t

At a glance, you’ll recognize the donor car: the sublime Ferrari F355 GTS. But linger for a second and the differences stack up.

The nose now wears a larger grille and a pronounced carbonfibre splitter. The pop-up headlights—once a defining ’90s flourish—are gone, replaced by fixed LED units. Around back, a proper diffuser anchors the tail, flanked by ring-shaped LED brake lights that echo the original’s quad-round theme without lapsing into retro pastiche.

Every external panel is now carbonfibre. That alone slashes kerb weight from the F355 GTS’s 1422kg to a target of 1250kg, depending on how indulgent a buyer gets with their spec sheet. It’s a dramatic cut, and one that transforms the car’s fundamental character before you even twist the key.

Stiffer, Lighter, Sharper

Underneath, Evoluto hasn’t simply refreshed the chassis—it’s reengineered it. The structure is now spot-welded and reinforced with carbonfibre bracing, boosting torsional stiffness by 23 percent. Reinforcements cluster around suspension hardpoints, precisely where a 1990s Ferrari would most benefit from modern thinking.

The suspension geometry has been reworked with a wider track, while braking is handled by modern slotted Brembo discs. For those who see kerbs as apexes rather than warnings, carbon-ceramic discs are optional.

Yet Evoluto resists the temptation to sanitize the experience. The car rides on 19-inch wheels wrapped in road-biased Michelin Pilot Sport 4S rubber, chosen specifically to allow a degree of rear slip. This isn’t about crushing lap times with clinical efficiency; it’s about letting the chassis breathe and move beneath you.

A V8, Reconsidered

The 3.5-litre naturally aspirated V8 remains, but only in the same way a cathedral remains after restoration: spiritually intact, structurally transformed.

A new ignition system sharpens timing and throttle response. The cylinder heads are ported for improved airflow, and bespoke camshafts enhance high-rev stability. The notorious quill shaft—long regarded as a weak link in the original drivetrain—has been replaced with a strengthened Evoluto-designed component to reduce vibration and improve reliability.

There’s also a full-length titanium exhaust with equal-length headers, promising what Evoluto calls an “emotional” soundtrack. Given the F355’s reputation as one of the best-sounding V8s ever fitted to a road car, that’s a bold claim.

Output climbs to 420bhp—40bhp more than the factory-rated 380bhp the F355 boasted in 1994, when it had the highest specific output of any production engine on sale. Combined with the weight loss, power-to-weight improves by 69bhp per tonne. The numbers matter less than what they imply: urgency.

Crucially, drive is still sent through a six-speed manual gearbox. It’s been modified for improved shift feel, but the gated romance remains. No paddles. No dual-clutch. No apologies.

Tested, Not Just Tuned

Before a single customer car rolls out in March, the 355 by Evoluto has endured a 12-month development programme, including 5000 miles of track driving. High-speed aerodynamic and noise testing took place in Northamptonshire’s Catesby Tunnel—a proving ground more often associated with OEM validation than boutique restomods.

Backing that up is a 20,000-mile, two-year warranty—an unusual commitment in a sector where craftsmanship sometimes outpaces durability.

Only 55 Chances

Production is capped at 55 cars. Each buyer can commission bespoke paint finishes, tailor-made interior upholstery, and presumably a spec sheet limited only by taste and budget.

The original F355 was often described as the moment Ferrari rediscovered its edge in the 1990s. The 355 by Evoluto feels like a similar inflection point for the restomod world: less nostalgia trip, more engineering reset.

In a market crowded with carbon-clad classics chasing concours glamour, Evoluto’s Ferrari doesn’t want to sit still under soft lights. It wants to be driven—hard, often, and preferably sideways.

Source: Evoluto

Cars and catalogues