Supported by government purchase bonuses in the People’s Republic is growing BYD continues rapidly. The Chinese electric car maker announced quarterly sales on Wednesday that for the first time exceeded those of Tesla exceeded. However, the US group still leads the global sales figures for electric cars because BYD also offers hybrid models.
BYD increased revenues in the past quarter by almost a quarter to the equivalent of 26 billion euros and its net profit by around 18 percent to 1.5 billion euros. Tesla with his boss Elon Musk (53) only had sales of 23.3 billion euros during this period. BYD’s growth was driven by hybrid models, whose sales rose by more than 75 percent to 685,830 vehicles. According to Reuters calculations, sales of purely electric cars fell due to tough competition China fell by 2.7 percent to 443,426 units.
Large-scale European investments should be put to the test
BYD currently sells 90 percent of its products in the People’s Republic. There the company has a market share of over a third for newly sold electric and hybrid vehicles. Despite additional import duties, Chinese car manufacturers are increasingly entering the European market. BYD sold almost 95,000 vehicles there in the third quarter, around a third more than in the same period last year.
Meanwhile, in view of the recently imposed punitive tariffs, the Chinese government has, according to insiders, instructed car manufacturers from the People’s Republic to review large investments in Europe. The aim is apparently to drive a wedge into the EU, which consists of 27 states. Two people familiar with the matter told the Reuters news agency that Chinese companies were encouraged to favor EU states that had opposed special tariffs on electric cars from China. This includes something like: Germany.
Mood-mongering from China
The European Union is currently putting the additional import duties into effect. They amount to up to 35.3 percent on electric cars manufactured in China. German providers are also affected – BMW builds the electric Mini in China and imports it into the EU, Volkswagen the Cupra Tavascan model. The taxes are in addition to the usual EU import tariffs of 10 percent for cars.
The EU accuses China of massively subsidizing the production of electric cars and thus creating unfair competition for European car manufacturers with cheap exports. However, German car manufacturers are vehemently against punitive tariffs because they fear retaliatory measures from China that could affect their business in the important sales market.
Those in the EU who support the measures include, among others France, Italy and Poland. Germany was against it, twelve EU countries abstained from a vote in October.
According to the insiders, Chinese suppliers such as BYD, SAIC and Geely were briefed on the new line at an event organized by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce on October 10th. Representatives from numerous foreign car manufacturers were also present. Companies were encouraged to invest in EU countries that were against the tariffs. The government agencies and companies involved did not want to comment on the information or did not initially respond to inquiries.
SAIC is currently looking for a location for a new electric car factory in Europe. The state-owned company is also planning a supply center in France. BYD is building a factory in Hungary. The Eastern European country was against the special tariffs. According to insiders, the group is also considering relocating its European headquarters from the Netherlands to Hungary for cost reasons.
When asked about Chinese car factories in Germany, government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said on Wednesday in Berlin: “I can generally say that the Federal Republic is always happy about industrial settlements and is a very good industrial location.” But this should not be confused with the question of punitive tariffs. Here, the federal government once again called on Brussels and Beijing to negotiate “sustainable and constructive solutions”.