BYD Auto goes past Tesla globally, but has low-key India presence

Chinese company BYD Auto, backed by Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway, has blazed a trail by dethroning Tesla to become the largest electric vehicle maker in the globe in the first half of 2022 but its operations in India have always been rather low key.

The Chinese auto group opened an office in India in 2007 both as an electric vehicle manufacturer with licensed technology for making electric buses and as a contract manufacturer for mobile devices.

In 2016, BYD signed an MoU with B K Modi’s Smart group for a comprehensive technology partnership to make electric buses, electric taxis and electric cars but it did not take off.   

Six years later, BYD today saw its shares plummet on speculation that Buffet was dumping the company by selling his shares, an allegation which the company has denied.

In India, sources say that BYD was planning to set up a plant to contract manufacture iPads for Apple which included applying for the IT products’ Production Linked Incentive scheme. The strategy was that Apple would, as it has in mobile devices, diversify its supply base which is concentrated in China.

But the project was dropped, sources say, because tensions between the two countries led to numerous restrictions being imposed on Chinese players who wanted to invest in America. Instead, BYD has set up a contract manufacturing plant for iPads in Vietnam and commercial production is underway.   

According to the BYD website, the company has invested $150 million in two plants in India which it sees as a strategic hub in south Asia. A detailed questionnaire to the company did not elicit any response.  

Last November, BYD made a quiet launch of its electric multi-purpose vehicle or MPV, its first foray in the segment.  The vehicle, called BYD e6, is powered with a 60kwh electric motor with a range of 500 kilometres in one charge and is on sale for 29.6 lakh, addressing only the B2B market.

To support buyers, the company has tied up with three electric vehicle charging networks which will provide over 1000 locations to top up the battery.   

While the premium end product is available in key metros such as Delhi, Mumbai, and Chennai, its numbers are miniscule: it has registered 152 vehicles in the first six months of this year according to data from the VAHAN website. 

BYD’s electric foray is not limited to MPVs.  It has also tied up with Hyderabad-based Olectra Greentech which manufactures electric buses. The combine has been competing with Tata Motors and others on bidding for city public transport tenders and has been able to win many bids due to aggressive pricing.

According to VAHAN data, Olectra Greentech has registered over 285 electric buses between January-June this year and has registered 685 electric buses since it started selling them in 2015.

BYD has also entered into contract manufacturing of mobile devices at its plant near Chennai. One of its clients is Xiaomi. The plant initially manufactured components for mobile devices and later extended it to full mobile devices.

The plant also makes electric batteries, an area where BYD is a global leader. Yet, for a global contract manufacturer, it has a much smaller play in India than Taiwanese companies like Foxconn or Wistron.

Not a major market yet

• Premium MPV launched last November, but only for the B2B market
• Technology tie-up for making electric buses
• Contract manufactures mobile devices for Xiaomi but operations much smaller than Foxconn or Wistron  
• Mulling contract manufacturing iPads for Apple Inc in India but dropped plans. Set up plant in Vietnam instead