Chinese automaker BYD Co (比亞迪) is planning a bold push into India’s electric vehicle (EV) market, joining a rush of foreign peers jockeying for a bigger share of the world’s fourth-biggest vehicle market.
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett-backed BYD is seeking to capture 40 percent of India’s EV market by 2030, Sanjay Gopalakrishnan, senior vice president of its local unit, said in an interview at the India Auto Expo on the outskirts of New Delhi.
“Being a global manufacturer, we have to keep aggressive goals,” Gopalakrishnan said.
Photo: REUTERS
India is a good bet because “people are realizing the need for EVs and the charging infrastructure is picking up,” he said.
BYD, which entered India in 2007, would launch its third electric model, the Seal luxury sedan, by the last quarter of this year, Gopalakrishnan said.
It introduced its first EV, the Atto 3 SUV, last year. It is planning to sell 15,000 EVs this year.
BYD would position itself as a “global” technology powerhouse to overcome the barriers of operating as a Chinese company in India and bring “confidence to customers,” Gopalakrishnan said.
While India is a value-conscious market, BYD will prioritize introducing higher priced vehicles to showcase its “premium” technology, and then slowly work toward mass-market vehicles, he said.
Gopalakrishnan said that consumers are no longer so price-sensitive, with 41 percent of the 3.8 million vehicles sold in India last year costing more than 1 million rupees (US$12,257).
The automaker currently assembles vehicles at a plant in the southern city of Chennai.
It is planning to explore adding manufacturing facilities when demand increases in the next two to three years, Gopalakrishnan said.
With increased staff and double shifts, its Chennai plant can produce 50,000 vehicles annually.
BYD has invested US$200 million in its electronics and vehicle factories in India, he said.
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