BYD Co.’s Japanese division said yesterday it would start selling its first battery electric vehicles (EVs) in the country early next year.
BYD’s plan shows the Shenzhen-based firm, the world’s largest EV maker by sales, further steps up its plan to either sell or make its cars available across major markets.
BYD, in which Berkshire Hathaway owns a stake, said it will roll out an electric sports utility vehicle, ATTO 3, in Japan starting Jan. 31.
The car has a cruising distance of 485 kilometers and will cost 4.4 million yen (US$32,735.66).
In comparison, Nissan Motor Co.’s electric Leaf standard model has a cruising range of 322 kilometers and costs about 3.7 million yen.
BYD’s Japan unit is planning to introduce two more models by the end of 2023 and more than 100 dealerships in Japan by the end of 2025, the firm said.
Gasoline-electric hybrid models remain more popular than EVs in Japan. However, the share of the battery-driven vehicles is expected to grow, partly due to non-Japanese automakers like BYD and Volkswagen making their way into the market.
BYD’s Japan division is planning to set up tentative retailers starting late January in 22 cities but is eager to cover all 47 prefectures, said Atsuki Tofukuji, BYD Auto Japan Inc. CEO.
“We hope that we can make our presence felt little by little as we work toward carbon neutrality and as our customers demand a variety of choices,” he said.
BYD’s announcement to sell EV cars in Japan comes amid a wider global push by the Shenzhen-listed auto and battery producer which has begun selling EVs and plug-in electric hybrids in markets around the world, including Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, Brazil, Costa Rica and Colombia.
BYD said Tuesday last week it will begin selling fully electric versions of its Tang sport utility vehicle (SUV) alongside its Han sedan through eight dealers across Mexico next year.
The firm is aiming for an annual sales target in Mexico of at least 10,000 vehicles next year and between 20,000 and 30,000 by 2024, with a long-term goal of 10% of the total market share, according to Zou Zhou, country head of BYD in Mexico.
BYD began shipping two other models, plug-in hybrid Song crossovers and all-electric Yuan hatchbacks, to Brazil earlier last month, with plans to begin local production as early as 2024.
In its home market, BYD was the top-selling car brand in China in the first four weeks of November, outperforming the Volkswagen brand in a reversal that highlights the pressure on legacy brands in the world’s largest auto market.
Retail sales for BYD totaled 152,863 vehicles from Nov. 1 to Nov. 27, logging a nearly 83% increase in average daily sales compared with the same period a year earlier, according to data from China Merchants Bank International.
BYD’s tally was higher than Volkswagen’s retail sales of 143,602 retail sales and Toyota Motor Corp.’s 115,272, which were 0.3% and 0.5% lower, respectively, on the year.
If the retail sales trend holds for the full month, it would be the first time that BYD, which only began making cars in 2003, has topped the sales charts in China and the first time a company with a line-up of plug-in hybrids and pure electric vehicles has led the charts.