BYD, a Chinese electric car manufacturer funded by Warren Buffet, launched its first passenger automobile in India on Tuesday, and a motor vehicle with a power-utility technology (SUV), marking its entrance into the mainstream market in the midst of a globalization.
In the world''s fourth-largest automobile market where Tata Motors dominates electric car sales, BYD, which already sells electric buses and electric vehicles (EVs) for corporate fleets in India.
"We intend to sell 15,000 units of BYD-Atto 3 in India over the next year," said BYD India''s executive director, adding that the company had invested more than $200 million (roughly Rs. 1,700 crore) in India.
The move comes as a result of a broad global push from China''s Chinese automobile manufacturer, which has already begun selling electric automobiles and plug-in electric hybrids in countries around the world, including Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, Brazil, Costa Rica, and Colombia.
BYD said it would begin selling its passenger electric vehicles in Japan from 2023 and plans to establish a factory in Thailand, the country''s latest among thirty other states, Brazil, and India, to produce 150,000 automobiles per year. The Atto 3 electric SUV in Thailand was launched on Monday.
The BYD''s move to India comes as the South Asian country continues to maintain deep monitoring of investments from key countries, including China.
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Great Wall Motor, a Chinese car manufacturer, was forced to defy plans to invest $1 billion (roughly Rs 8,250 crore) in India earlier this year because it failed to obtain regulatory approvals.
According to Zhang, BYD is expanding its manufacturing operations into a 140,000 square metres area with more than 3,000 employees. It would not need to invest in additional effort to build and sell the Atto 3, according to a source familiar with the company''s intentions.
A Shenzhen-based auto and battery manufacturer, which includes Buffett''s Berkshire Hathaway as an investor, entered India in 2007, acquiring batteries and components for mobile phones from its factory near the southern city of Chennai.
In 2013, a local Indian partner started constructing buses in the country and launched its e6 EV in 2021 for sale to corporate fleet operators and owners.
2022 Thomson Reuters