Following the unveiling of its second electric vehicle – the Atto 3 – on October 11, BYD India is speedily expanding its retail network in the country. At present, the company has 12 showrooms with plans to expand to 23 outlets by the end of this year, including five this month (November 2022). By end-2023, the EV OEM is targeting an all-India network of close to 53 outlets.
The latest showroom to be opened, on October 31, is in Chennai and run and managed by KUN BYD. Spread across 20,000 square feet, the 3S facility (Sales, Spares & Services) and BYD India’s 12th facility is one of the largest BYD showrooms in India and has well-trained technicians, service equipment, service bays, a customer lounge and a showroom display floor.
Sanjay Gopalakrishnan, Senior Vice-President of Electric Passenger Vehicle Business, BYD India, said, “We are extremely happy to announce the first passenger vehicles showroom in Chennai with KUN BYD, which will help us penetrate deeper into the Chennai market. We are in the process of expanding our dealer network nationally. The state has been a key part of our growth strategy in India, and we are confident that this dealership will set new benchmark in the region.”
Along with the Chennai facility, last month saw BYD India open another four new showrooms in Mohali, Indore, Ahmedabad and Gurugram. The facility in Mohali, Punjab – Krishna BYD – was inaugurated on October 12. It was followed five days later by the opening of the first outlet in Indore, Madhya Pradesh which is managed by Shubh BYD. Indore, which was recently voted as India’s cleanest city for the fourth time in a row in the government of India’s Cleanliness Survey, is seeing growing demand for electric vehicles.
Cargo BYD opened in Ahmedabad on October 18. The EV OEM plans to expand from 12 showrooms to 23 outlets by end-2022 and to over 50 by end-2023.
On October 18, BYD India inaugurated its first showroom in Ahmedabad – Cargo BYD. With considerable experience in the automobile industry, Cargo BYD has extensive reach with its business covering neighbouring regions.
The same day saw the company open its first showroom in Gurugram, Haryana – Kristan BYD. The EV maker is targeting demand in the region what with India’s first electric highway between Delhi and Jaipur coming up.
Atto-3 deliveries from January 2023
While the company has commenced bookings of the Atto 3 e-SUV, deliveries are only slated to begin from January 2023, when the prices will be disclosed. BYD India will assemble the Atto 3 from semi-knocked down (SKD) kits at its plant in Sriperumbudur, Chennai which currently has an annual capacity of 10,000 units, expandable to 15,000 units over three shifts.
“We are targeting sales of 15,000 units in 2023, combining volumes of the Atto 3 and e6,” Sanjay Gopalakrishnan, SVP, Electric Passenger Vehicles, BYD India, told Autocar Professional last month. While its maiden product, the e6 MPV, was launched in India in November 2021, reserved only for fleet buyers, it was made available for private buyers in August 2022. However, the company is envisaging the MPV to have more sales coming from the fleet segment given its practicality, and is expecting the individual buyers to throng towards the more premium Atto 3.
In the first half of FY2023 (April-September 2022), BYD India has clocked retail sales of 264 units (e6 MPVs) and is currently fourth-placed in the EV OEM rankings after Tata Motors, MG Motor India and Hyundai Motor India. BYD India, which is one of the OEMs which are participating in Auto Expo 2023 at Greater Noida in January, will be looking to make a splash with its display.
(Additional inputs from Mayank Dhingra)
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