BYD plans to capture 40% of the Indian market by 2030.
Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer BYD Co. intends to deepen its reach into India’s electric car market, which is the fourth largest auto market in the world.
The company backed by Warren Buffett will launch its third passenger electric vehicle (EV), the Seal luxury sedan, in India by the fourth quarter of this year. The company revealed its plans to double its dealer network in India in 2023 at an auto show in Greater Noida.
BYD India expanded its network to 24 showrooms across 21 cities in just a year. It now plans to double its presence to 53 showrooms within this year, the company said.
BYD launched its first passenger car in India during the festive season in October. The carmaker plans to sell 15,000 units of the Atto 3 e-SUV this year in India, where it has already invested over $200 million and will set up local manufacturing in due course, reported Reuters.
In an interview with Bloomberg, senior vice president of BYD India, Sanjay Gopalakrishnan said that the company intends to capture 40% of India’s EV market by 2030. “Being a global manufacturer, we have to keep aggressive goals,” he said. India is a good bet because “people are realising the need for EVs and the charging infrastructure is picking up,” he added.
The EV maker has an assembly plant in Chennai. Gopalkrishnan said that the company will explore adding manufacturing facilities when demand increases in the next two to three years. With increased manpower and double shifts, its Chennai plant can produce 50,000 vehicles annually.
Even amid the increasing government scrutiny on Chinese manufacturers in India, Chinese electric car manufacturers such as Nio and BYD are moving forward with their plans to expand in India. Last week, Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio Inc. unveiled two new electric SUVs — the ES8, a second-generation iteration of the same model it has been selling since 2018, and a brand new electric coupe, the EC7 SUV.
India intends for EVs to make up 30% of private cars, 70% of commercial vehicles, and 80% of two- and three-wheelers by 2030. Retail sales of EVs are estimated to cross the one million mark in the calendar year 2022, accounting for about 4.7% of the total automobile sales.
