Chinese giant BYD will begin European deliveries of three electric cars in the coming weeks, leveraging a market foothold that it has quickly established since beginning limited sales in 2021.
Already active in Europe through its Hungary-based commercial vehicles division, known in the UK for its electric buses, BYD first confirmed plans to sell passenger EVs in Europe in 2020, beginning with the Audi E-tron-rivalling Tang SUV and focusing initially on Norway.
The brand did previously offer the e6 electric crossover in limited volumes in the UK, primarily to private hire fleets, but it has been absent from the European car market for nearly a decade. Now it’s returning with a trio of EVs targeted at the market’s most popular segments in a bid to steal market share from Tesla – and one will come to the UK.
BYD is one of several Chinese-based EV firms aiming to capture significant market share in Europe, along with rivals Aiways, Great Wall Motor and Nio – each of which have recently started selling cars on the mainland.
Initially, BYD will focus on Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, Sweden, the Netherlands and Norway, but has hinted plans for a UK entry are imminent.
Uniquely, BYD arrives with an EV that it claims has been conceived “with European customers in mind”: the Atto 3 crossover. Autocar understands that it will be this car that makes its way to the UK first – having already gone on sale in right-hand-drive Australia, and that it will be here by the end of 2022.
The first model to be built on BYD’s new e-Platform 3.0 architecture, the 201bhp, front-driven Atto 3 is similar in size to the MG ZS EV – at 4.5m long, 1.9m wide and 1.6m tall – and similar in terms of performance characteristics, offering a range of 261 miles on the WLTP combined cycle, a 7.3sec 0-62mph time and charging at rates of up to 80kW.