The young line of electric driving: Concept study BYD Seed. Wolfgang Egger is responsible for the design.
Image: manufacturer
The Chinese manufacturer BYD, which is still largely unknown among European car drivers, has a lot of potential for the local market. And appetite too.
Wang Chuanfu is a man they rarely see, even here at the head office, and who doesn’t even dare to leave the office for a moment for foreign guests. The fact that the 57-year-old is surrounded by a myth of invisibility suits his company, which itself is a great unknown. Because at least European motorists have not heard much from BYD. In the PS industry itself, on the other hand, the three letters are on everyone’s lips. Because what Chuanfu-san has created with “Build Your Dreams” is impressive.
In 1995 he founded the company as a battery workshop with 20 employees on Yadi Road in Shenzhen and produced his first car in 2005 as BYD. Pure electric cars have also been coming from Shenzhen since 2010. Last week BYD celebrated the five millionth “New Energy Vehicle”, boasting as the world’s largest manufacturer of electrified vehicles. Even if more than 90 percent of the cars are still sold in China to date, this also hurts the German manufacturers – especially VW. This spring, BYD ousted it from first place in the approval table for ages.