BYD aims to be among top three e-PV players in India this year

BYD India is gearing up to roll out the Seal in October this year.

Chinese auto giant BYD, which overtook Tesla last year to become the number one electric vehicle (EV) maker in terms of sales, is now aiming to figure among the top thee electric carmakers in the Indian market.

BYD India, which began its journey by selling the E6 MPV for fleet buyers and the Atto 3 electric SUV late last year, is looking to sell 15,000 cars this calendar year. The projected numbers include the aforementioned models as well as the electric sedan Seal, which was unveiled at the Auto Expo on January 11.

Sanjay Gopalakrishnan, senior vice president of BYD India, told Moneycontrol, “We will be selling 15,000 units of all the models put together. Our market share will be determined by the total numbers sold during the year. But I can say with certainty that we will easily be among the top three players in the e-PV (electric passenger vehicle) space. As the market expands and we enhance our product portfolio, we hope to attain a 40 percent market share of the e-PV market by 2030.”

BYD’s sales target would be behind that of Tata Motors, the current market leader in the e-PV market and which is looking to sell 45,000-50,000 EVs in the current fiscal year.

As per data shared by Federation of Automobile Dealers Association of India (FADA), Tata Motors commanded 85.37 percent of the electric car market during FY22, selling 15,198 units, followed by MG Motor India at 11.49 percent with 2,045 units and M&M at less than 1 percent with 156 units (BYD's retail numbers are not there as the company began deliveries recently).  .

Talking about the Atto 3, which was unveiled in Q4 of the last calendar year, Gopalakrishnan said, “We already confirmed bookings for 2,000 models and started delivering last week.”

BYD India is gearing up to roll out the Seal in October this year. Just like the other two models, the electric sedan will come to India via the SKD or semi-knocked down route and will be assembled at the Chinese carmaker’s existing facility in Sriperumbudur, near Chennai. While the company didn’t share any price points, the speculation is that the Seal will be priced around Rs 50-60 lakh (ex-showroom).

“There is no premium electric sedan in the market and we are filling up that white space. We are targeting people who can afford these high-end cars and are seeking value for the price they are paying. It could be entrepreneurs, businessmen, young IT professionals, unicorn founders or even luxury car owners who want an EV,” added Gopalakrishnan.

When asked if BYD intended to bring in affordable electric cars that could be positioned below the Atto 3 in India, Gopalakrishnan said, “Yes, they are very much on our drawing board but that will happen only during the second phase of our expansion plans.” The Shenzhen-based firm is already selling  Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) across multiple price points in other countries, including the e1 city car, BYD e2 compact hatchback, e3 compact sedan, the sedan variant of the e2 and the e9 mid-size sedan.

As part of its next phase of expansion, BYD is also looking to establish a dedicated production base that will not just be heavily indigenising its products but will also be assembling batteries on a large scale.

“As per the market requirements, we will also expand our manufacturing capabilities.  We would like to assemble vehicles by following the CKD (completely knocked down kits) route in the second phase of expansion. Whether that would happen in FY25 or FY26 is difficult to predict. We have done it globally and that is how we will do it in India. That will involve building an ecosystem for batteries in India too,” Gopalakrishnan said.

BYD India had earlier announced that it is will ramp up its distribution network as part of the process. It currently has 24 showrooms across 21 cities in the country and aims to expand to 53 showrooms by the end of 2023.

''Our current assembling capacity is around 10,000 units per annum which could be expanded to 15,000 units per annum,'' Gopalakrishnan had told Moneycontrol earlier.