Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer BYD has launched a price war – Kommersant

Agency Bloomberg analyzed the price dynamics of Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer BYD’s models and concluded that the company has launched an aggressive campaign to increase pressure on its competitors such as Toyota and Volkswagen.

BYD has cut prices on more than 100 of its electric and hybrid models as part of its “Electricity is cheaper than oil” marketing campaign. Bloomberg refers to data from the Chinese specialized automotive portal 16888.com, which contains current data on cars. It is noted that BYD not only reduced prices on existing models, but also relaunched 70 more models with lower prices than before. The only model that was not affected by the price reduction was the newest Yangwang supercar worth $233 thousand.

The most affordable models from BYD now cost less than $10 thousand. For example, the compact electric hatchback Seagull has become cheaper by 5% and is sold for 69.8 thousand yuan ($9.6 thousand). And the price of one of BYD’s bestsellers, the Qin Plus electric sedan, has been reduced by 20%, to 79.8 thousand yuan ($10.9 thousand). At the same time, as Bloomberg notes, in the United States the average price for an electric car is now about $60 thousand.

“This is another round in the price war,” the agency quotes the head of the Shanghai consulting company Automobility, Bill Russo. “BYD is using its advantage in profitability to attack the market. If I have more chips in a poker game, I can try to intimidate my opponent to force him out of the game.”

Read about how the battery manufacturer became a competitor to Tesla. “BYD Almighty”.

Evgeny Khvostik