China’s BYD Launches its First Passenger Electric Car in India

BYD, a Chinese electric car manufacturer financed by Warren Buffet, debuted its first passenger car in India: an electric sport-utility vehicle (SUV). This marked BYD’s entry into the mainstream market as part of a larger global expansion.

BYD, which currently offers electric buses and vehicles (EVs) for corporate fleets in India, unveiled the Atto 3 electric SUV in the fourth-largest auto market in the world, where Tata Motors dominates sales of electric automobiles. It comes with the well-known Blade battery technology from BYD.

In a statement, BYD India Executive Director Ketsu Zhang stated, “We hope to sell 15,000 units of BYD-Atto 3 in India over the next year and plan to establish a local manufacturing facility in due course. The business has invested more than $200 million in India.

The action is part of a larger international drive by the Chinese automaker, which has already begun selling plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles in several locations, including Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, Brazil, Costa Rica, and Colombia.

BYD announced earlier this year that it would begin selling its passenger EVs in Japan as of 2023 and that it also has plans to build a factory in Thailand, which would be the company’s latest among 30 others in the US, Brazil, and India, to begin producing 150,000 cars annually as of 2024. It has also debuted the Atto 3 electric SUV in Thailand.

BYD’s entry into India also occurs at a time when the South Asian nation is still closely monitoring any investments made by neighboring countries, particularly China.

Chinese automaker Great Wall Motor was forced to abandon plans to invest $1 billion in India early this year because it was unable to acquire regulatory permits due to strict limitations on such inbound investments.

According to Zhang, BYD has two manufacturing facilities in India that are both 140,000 square meters in size and employ more than 3,000 people. To construct and market the Atto 3, the company wouldn’t need to make any new investments, according to a source familiar with its intentions.

The Shenzhen-based auto and battery manufacturer, which has Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway as a stakeholder, entered India in 2007 and operates a plant close to the southern city of Chennai where it manufactures batteries and other parts for mobile phone manufacturers.

With a local Indian partner, it began producing buses in the nation in 2013, and in 2021 it introduced the e6 EV for sale to owners and operators of corporate fleets.