BYD Auto Co., Ltd. is a Chinese automobile manufacturer based in Xi’an, Shanxi Province,[2] and a wholly owned subsidiary of BYD Company. It was founded in 2003, following BYD Company’s acquisition of Tsinchuan Automobile Company in 2002.[3][4] Its principal activity is the design, development, manufacture and distribution of passenger cars and buses sold under the BYD brand. It also has a 50:50 joint venture with Daimler AG, Shenzhen BYD Daimler New Technology Co., Ltd., which develops and manufactures luxury electric cars sold under the Denza brand.
BYD Auto sold a total of 506,189 passenger cars in China in 2013, making it the tenth-largest selling brand and the largest selling Chinese brand.[5] In 2015, BYD Auto was the best selling global electric vehicle brand, ahead of General Motors and Nissan.[6] For a second year running, BYD was the world’s top selling plug-in electric car manufacturer with over 100,000 units delivered in 2016, followed by Tesla Motors.[7] In October 2016, BYD Auto became the all-time second largest global plug-in car manufacturer after the Renault-Nissan Alliance.
History
BYD Co Ltd created the wholly owned subsidiary BYD Auto a year after its 2002 acquisition of the Tsinchuan Automobile Company,[10] which may have been made solely to acquire the passenger car production license held by the purchased company.[11] While the Chinese state is credited with development of an indigenous auto industry,[12] BYD Auto may have been created in the absence of a State policy explicitly supporting independently owned automobile manufacturers.[13]
In 2008, BYD Auto began selling its first mass-produced, plug-in hybrid vehicle, the BYD F3DM.[14] China subsidizes oil (an incentive for the State to encourage use and manufacture of electric cars), and Chinese automakers see opportunities in less mature electric vehicles because Western companies have yet to develop much of a lead in the technology.[15] In late December 2008, Warren Buffett spent $230 million on the acquisition of a 10% stake in BYD Auto’s parent, BYD Company.[16] In 2009, the company sold 448,400 cars in China, and two-thirds of sales were its BYD F3 model.[17][18] In the same year, BYD began the export of its cars to Africa, South America, and the Middle East.[19]
Some of its first all-electric vehicles were offered via fleet sales to government buyers in China.[20] The BYD Qin plug-in hybrid, launched in the Chinese market in December 2013, ranked as the top selling plug-in electric car in China in 2014.[21] The car also ranked seventh among the world’s top 10 best selling plug-in cars in 2014.[22] In 2015, the Qin remained as the top selling passenger new energy vehicle in China.[23][24] The BYD Qin was the world’s second best selling plug-in hybrid car in 2015 and also ranked fifth in 2015 among the world’s top selling plug-in electric cars.[25] Three BYD Auto models topped the Chinese ranking of best-selling new energy passenger cars in 2016. The BYD Tang plug-in hybrid SUV was the top selling plug-in car with 31,405 units delivered, followed by the BYD Qin (21,868), and the BYD e6 (20,605).[26] As of December 2016, the BYD Qin, with 68,655 units sold since its inception, remained the all-time top selling plug-in electric car in the country.[26][27]
As of 2015, BYD was in the process of opening its first passenger car factory in Brazil to focus on supplying electric vehicles for taxis and car-sharing schemes.[28]
BYD ended 2015 as the world’s top selling manufacturer of highway legal light-duty plug-in electric vehicles, with 61,772 passenger vehicles sold, mostly plug-in hybrids. BYD Auto was followed by Tesla Motors with 50,580 units sold in 2015. Accounting for heavy-duty vehicles, BYD total sales rises to 69,222 units.[25][29][30] BYD continued as the world’s top selling plug-in car manufacturer in 2016 with over 100,000 units sold, up 64% from 2015, and ahead of Tesla Motors by about 30,000 units.[7] However, in terms of sales revenue, Tesla ranked ahead with US$6.35 billion from its electric car sales in 2016, while BYD sales totaled US$3.88 billion from its electric car division.[31]
BYD net profits jumped 552.6% in 2015 to a total of 2.829 billion rmb. Sales of new energy vehicles were the main driver for BYD’s huge profit increase, with alternative energy vehicles accounting for half of BYD’s profits while the same share in 2014 was just 27%.[30] Samsung Electronics invested $450 million in BYD in 2016.[32] In September 2016, BYD Auto surpassed Mitsubishi Motors as the third largest global plug-in car manufacturer with cumulative sales of 161,000 plug-in cars since 2008, ranking behind Tesla Motors (164,000) and the Renault-Nissan Alliance (almost 369,000). In October 2016, BYD passed Tesla Motors to become the world’s second largest plug-in electric passenger car manufacturer with more than 171,000 units delivered in China.[8][9]
Products
BYD Auto has a wide range of small and medium-sized cars, including small compacts, people carriers, and small sedans. Hybrid electric vehicles and all-electric models are also among its products.
Non-Chinese auto part makers BYD is associated with include Autoliv[33] and BorgWarner.[34]
Former models
- BYD Flyer City car (2003–2008)
- BYD S8/F8 – coupe-convertible
- F3DM plug-in hybrid compact saloon (the first mass produced plug-in hybrid automobile in the world[35])
Current models
Electric
Plug-in hybrid
- BYD Qin (plug-in hybrid)
- BYD Tang (plug-in hybrid mid-size SUV)
ICE
- BYD F0 – supermini
- BYD F3 – compact saloon
- BYD F3-R compact hatchback
- BYD G3 – compact saloon
- BYD G3-R – compact hatchback
- BYD F5 Suri – compact saloon
- BYD F6 mid-size saloon
- BYD L3 (or New F3)[37] – compact saloon
- BYD G6 – Mid-size car saloon
- BYD M6 – MPV
- BYD S6 – SUV
- BYD S7 – SUV
- BYD S3 (Song)
- BYD S1 (Yuan)
- BYD T3
MODELS CAR
CHINA BYD Qin
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