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China’s leading electric-vehicle maker BYD has pledged to work with rival Tesla to combat petrol cars, while insisting that Beijing was “more open” to foreign business than the west.
“Our common enemy is the internal combustion engine car. We need to work together . . . to make the industry change,” said BYD’s executive vice-president Stella Li in an interview with the Financial Times.
Despite her comments, the two carmakers are vying to be the world’s largest EV group. BYD is aiming for rapid sales growth of advanced EVs in Europe with more product offerings than the US company. Tesla, in turn, has suffered a decline in European sales on the back of Elon Musk’s increasing political activism.
Speaking at a BYD showroom in London, Li said China was willing to share key technologies in EVs and autonomous driving with foreign companies despite rising trade tensions with Brussels and Washington.
“[The] Chinese government is more open so maybe there is a lot of wrong perception here,” she said.
She added that the Chinese car market was “the homeland for innovation” and urged foreign companies to come to China. “The government will support you and they’ll work with you to allow any technology to be realised,” she said.
BYD last month revealed that advanced smart driving functions through its “God’s Eye” self-driving system would become available to customers in most of its models at no additional cost.
The announcement has sparked industry-wide concerns of lower revenues for such driver assistance technologies, with analysts predicting that the entire market will be forced to follow up with the popularisation of smart driving functions.
The Warren Buffett-backed group has also been making aggressive inroads into European markets with plans for local production via its plants in Hungary and Turkey to address the EU’s higher tariffs against imports of EVs made in China. BYD also raised $5.6bn through a share sale in Hong Kong to help with its overseas expansion, according to a filing on Tuesday.
But Brussels also wants Chinese companies to transfer intellectual property to European businesses in return for EU subsidies. Meanwhile, Beijing, responding to rising western protectionism, has signalled it wants Chinese companies to limit some advanced overseas manufacturing.
In recent years, China has also gradually expanded export controls from curbs on battery materials such as rare earths to technology and processes that turn refined rare earths into the metals and permanent magnets used in EVs.
When asked about the recent political developments in the EU about technology sharing, Li said she did not pay attention to politics because it was “short-term” and ultimately consumers would choose the better product.
The Chinese government was helping its overseas push, and all its innovation would be introduced to its global markets, including its self-driving technology, she said. “For every investment we have overseas, the [Chinese] government is supporting [us] very much.”
Li said BYD will bring options other than EVs to European consumers — such as the Seal U plug-in hybrid — in the wake of declining EV sales in leading European markets and with hybrids not being subject to the EU’s anti-subsidy tariffs. It also plans to launch its Denza premium brand later this year.
BYD’s battery-electric car market share in western Europe, including the UK, was at 2 per cent last year, according to Schmidt Automotive Research.
Li confirmed that BYD had no plans to introduce EVs in the US, which last year slapped a 100 per cent tariff on Chinese EV imports. On Thursday, US President Donald Trump announced additional tariffs on imports from China and confirmed plans to press ahead with levies on Mexico and Canada from next week. Li said no decision had been made on BYD’s plans to build a plant in Mexico.
She said she was not concerned about a global slowdown in the EV transition as a result of Trump’s policies. Referring to the shift away from petrol vehicles in China she said: “Why are people still choosing the EV? Because it’s a better car, a smarter car . . . and it’s higher quality.”
Additional reporting by Cheng Leng in Hong Kong
