BYD wants Chinese brands to ‘demolish’ Western rivals

Chinese giant BYD recently clocked over a new production milestone and, at a celebratory event, company founder and chairman Wang Chuanfu made a patriotic call for Chinese brands to band together and “demolish the old legends”.

As reported by Reuters, BYD used the event to celebrate the emergence of China as a global player in the automotive world.

“I believe the time has come for Chinese brands,” said Wang Chuanfu at the event.

“It’s an emotional need for the 1.4 billion Chinese people to see a Chinese brand becoming global.”

BYD also released a video that was posted on its Weibo page and later shared on X by user Deon EVX, which showcases the founding of a number of Chinese carmakers, including FAW Group, XPeng, Nio and Li Auto.

The video largely shows historical imagery with stock footage slotted between, as well as cars getting loaded onto ships for export.

“Our stories are different from each other but share the same direction,” said the narrator in the video when translated from Chinese to English.

“There’s no distinction between ‘you’ and ‘me’.”

Towards the end of the video the narrator calls for China’s carmakers to “demolish the old legends and achieve new world-class brands” under the slogan “Chinese Autos”.

BYD has now produced over five million new energy vehicles (NEVs), which is a term that includes both electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs).

It took the Chinese carmaker 13 years to produce its first million NEVs, a further 18 months to reach three million, and then most recently nine more months to hit the five million mark.

The BYD Atto 3 was one of the first EVs the company sold in Australia, following the T3 electric van and E6 electric people mover. Local deliveries of the electric crossover started in September last year.

As previously reported, BYD has announced it plans to bring four new EVs to Australia over the next 12 months.

These four EVs include the Dolphin hatchback, Seal sedan, previously confirmed “muscle ute”, as well as an unspecified SUV.

Deliveries of the Dolphin will begin in the fourth quarter of this year, and BYD’s local distributor EVDirect says the Seal will come soon but didn’t confirm specific launch timing.

“We’re excited to be bringing the types of cars Australians want,” Luke Todd, CEO of BYD’s local distributor EVDirect, told CarExpert.

According to the company’s Australian distributor, the plan is for BYD to achieve 50,000 annual sales here over the next few years, supported by an expansion of its EV line-up.

BYD has also entered the European market, which is now teeming with Chinese brands, most of which are focusing on EVs. These include Nio, XPeng, Hongqi, and HiPhi, as well as GWM’s Ora brand.

MORE: Electric SUV due as BYD plans rapid Australian expansion