BYD, a Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer financed by Warren Buffet, will debut an electric sport-utility vehicle (SUV) on Tuesday in India, marking the company’s entry into the mass market amid a larger global expansion.
In the fourth-largest auto market in the world, where domestic automaker Tata Motors dominates electric car sales, BYD, which currently sells electric buses and vehicles (EVs) for corporate fleets in India, will introduce its Atto 3 electric SUV.
The action is part of a larger international drive by the Chinese automaker, which has already begun selling plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles in a number of locations, including Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, Brazil, Costa Rica, and Colombia.
BYD announced earlier this year that it would begin selling its passenger EVs in Japan as of 2023 and that it also has plans to build a factory in Thailand, which would be the company’s latest among 30 others in the US, Brazil, and India, to begin producing 150,000 cars annually as of 2024. On Monday, it debuted the Atto 3 electric SUV in Thailand.
BYD’s entry into India also occurs at a time when the South Asian nation is still closely monitoring any investments made by neighbouring countries, particularly China.
Chinese automaker Great Wall Motor was forced to abandon plans to invest $1 billion in India early this year because it was unable to acquire regulatory permits due to strict limitations on such inbound investments.
But according to a person familiar with the company’s plans, BYD already has a manufacturing facility in the nation and would not need to make any additional investments to build and market the Atto 3.
The Shenzhen-based auto and battery manufacturer, which has Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway as a stakeholder, entered India in 2007 and operates a plant close to the southern city of Chennai where it manufactures batteries and other parts for mobile phone manufacturers.
With a local Indian partner, it began producing buses in the nation in 2013, and in 2021 it introduced the e6 EV for sale to owners and operators of corporate fleets.
The southern India site where BYD will build the Atto 3 has a capacity to create 10,000 units annually.
