Autofun Philippines – China’s BYD plans to beat Nissan and Tesla in electric vehicle prices in Japan. Chinese carmaker BYD is reportedly set to start selling its first passenger electric vehicle in Japan next month for 4.4 million yen ($32,000), lower than its predecessors. electricity from rivals like Nissan and Tesla, as it accelerates its global expansion.
The automaker, originally known for making batteries, saw an opportunity in its auto business in Japan, where domestic automakers were slow to roll out their own electric models. surname.
BYD Philippines‘s flagship model, the Atto 3 mid-size sport utility vehicle, will go on sale in the country from January 31, with deliveries expected to begin around March, the company said. on Monday. The price is lower than Nissan’s Ariya and Tesla’s Model 3, both of which sell for more than 5 million yen, as well as other high-end models overseas.
Atsuki Tofukuji, president of BYD Auto Japan, a subsidiary of marketing services, said prices could fall further if government subsidies for electric vehicles remain at the same level next year, leaving Atto 3 become “affordable”. “This is necessary to achieve our goal of making e-mobility accessible to everyone.” The government has yet to disclose the amount of the subsidy for cars registered after mid-February 2023.
BYD is preparing to open 22 stores in Japan from January and hopes to have more than 100 stores by the end of 2025, creating a sales network stretching from northernmost Hokkaido to southernmost Okinawa.
Although total car sales in Japan are expected to decline in the coming years due to a declining population and the rise of car-sharing services, it is still the world’s third largest market, with about 4 to 5 million cars sold each year. according to Tofukuji. The government has set a target of requiring all new cars sold to be electric by 2035, but electric vehicles currently account for only about 1% of annual sales.
“We hope to gradually increase our presence in Japan as consumers seek more green car options as part of the transition to a neutral society,” said Tofukuji. carbon. While BYD has a 70% share of Japan’s commercial electric bus market, the brand is not widely known to consumers.
After the Atto 3, the company plans to launch the Dolphin compact hatchback in mid-2023 and the Seal sedan in the second half of 2023 in Japan.
BYD has shown “particularly impressive” growth in recent years, the International Energy Agency said in its Electric Vehicles 2022 Report. The automaker is set to become the world’s third-largest maker of electric vehicles by 2021, behind Tesla in the United States and Volkswagen Group in Germany, although they won’t even be among the top six. beginning in 2020. After acquiring the first share of a facility in China, the world’s largest electric vehicle market, the automaker is accelerating its global expansion, from Europe to Asia and the Americas. It recently entered the Thai market, where it is building its fifth manufacturing plant, its first outside of China.
