BYD India makes renewed push for volumes in 2024
China's BYD, the world's largest EV maker in terms of sales, is looking to reignite its India aspirations by increasing its imports into the country and expand its product portfolio after a series of setbacks led it to miss its sales targets in 2023. The New Energy Vehicle (NEV) maker launched its performance electric sedan SEAL in India on Tuesday at a starting price of ₹41 lakh, going up to ₹53 lakh ex-showroom for an all-wheel drive variant. The Seal has a range of up to 650 km for its top-end rear-wheel drive model.
Sanjay Gopalakrishnan, senior vice president of electric passenger vehicle business at BYD India, told Mint that the company is expecting to receive homologation certification for its Atto 3, a fiveseater electric sport utility vehicle (SUV), which will enable it to import and sell more units of the model in the country. Homologation is a process which certifies a product meets Indian regulatory standards necessary to facilitate the import and sale of the vehicle in India. Without homologation, a carmaker can only import up to 2,500 units of a model.
The fact that BYD hasn't been able to clear this key step so far and has also been unable to formalize a contract manufacturing arrangement it was seeking amid tightened foreign investment rules for countries sharing a land border with India, threw a spanner in the works for the company, and kept it from its 15,000 annual sales target last year. However, Gopalakrishnan points out the company has a significant lead in the ₹30 lakh and above segment of EVs, outselling South Korean OEMs Kia and Hyundai which offer products like the Ioniq 5 and EV6, as well as luxury carmakers like Volvo Cars India, BMW and Mercedes Benz.
“The Seal will add to our leadership of that category, so we want to maintain a premiumness in our portfolio and at the same time build the brand because the SEAL is a global product, normally known as a Tesla Model 3 competitor that will attract a lot of eyeballs in the showroom,” he said. Indian consumers have been asking about the Seal since they saw it at the Auto Expo. That's what BYD hopes will create a brand aura around its products, he said.
The EV maker launched its performance electric sedan SEAL in India at a starting price of ₹41 lakh