BYD aims to become the UK’s best-selling car brand within five years, having already surpassed the likes of Citroën, Dacia and Suzuki two years after its launch.
The Chinese giant delivered 9271 cars here during the first quarter of this year, more than it managed throughout the entirety of 2024, and its UK sales and marketing chief, Steve Beattie, believes there is room for significant growth yet.
“BYD wants to be the number one car manufacturer globally,” he told Autocar, “but you can't be the number one car manufacturer globally if you’re not number one in many of those countries. So that's where we want to be.”
Asked whether that is a realistic ambition, given BYD’s focus on electric cars and relative lack of brand awareness compared with long-established giants such as Volkswagen, Ford and industry disruptor Kia, Beattie replied: “I think I have to have an ambition to be able to do that; we have to have an ambition.”
According to Beattie, the strategic cornerstones are already in place: “The first thing is brand awareness: growing that brand and growing that retail network so that, whether it's [that we reach] 120 or 150 showrooms over the next two years, we've grown the dealer network to be in touching distance of everybody that needs to buy a car. That’s important.”
He said that around 150 dealers is “a good number” for hitting the sales volumes BYD is aiming for. Ford currently has just over 200 across the UK, for example.
The second element of the strategy is a rapid expansion in the brand’s product offering. It launched in March 2023 offering only the Atto 3 crossover but soon added the Tesla Model 3-rivalling Seal saloon and Volkswagen ID 3-fighting Dolphin hatchback to its line-up. Over the past year, it has also added the Seal U – its lone plug-in hybrid model – and the Sealion 7, a Tesla Model Y rival.
Beattie highlighted the Dolphin and Seal U as being particularly popular with retail buyers, so much so that the former has “almost sold out”.
He expects the brand’s “true sales” (ie through the retail and fleet channels) to grow significantly this year as it launches the Atto 2 small crossover, the Dolphin Surf city car and a possible third extra model.
The Dolphin Surf, due to become the brand’s smallest and most affordable car, is going to “take us to another level”, Beattie said.
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