The United Kingdom has become the biggest offshore market for Chinese electric vehicle-maker BYD after an 880% surge in sales in September, according a report by the BBC.
The report quoted BYD as saying that it sold a total of 11,271 vehicles in the UK for the month, with its plug-in hybrid Seal U SUV accounting for the majority of those sales. The carmaker said it now held a 3.6% share of the UK market.
The UK has emerged as key market for BYD, as it remains at a disadvantage in most Western markets. High tariffs in the US and Canada mean BYD is essentially shut off from those markets. And it also faces tariffs in the European Union, though not as high as the US and Canada. The UK is, as a result, the only country in Europe where BYD faces no tariffs.
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Meanwhile, BYD has managed to undercut all its foreign rivals by keeping margins thin and on the back of extensive and established supply chain in China that has kept its costs in check. Those advantages have allowed BYD to out-price most of its Western competitors despite offering cutting-edge technologies — like an advanced driver-assistance system — even on its cheapest cars.
In the UK, BYD has also benefitted from consumer sentiment turning increasingly against its top rival — Elon Musk-led Tesla.
There has now been persistent backlash by some consumers against Musk, who recently championed European far-right parties. He has also been using his social media platform X to comment on immigration in the UK and criticising the British government. In September, he called for “a dissolution of Parliament” in the UK.
Tesla sales for the month were 8,038, up just 0.11% from a year earlier.
Aside from Musk’s politics, Tesla has also remained on the back foot due to a stale lineup of cars. “Tesla may still be a big fish, but the pond is now full of serious competitors,” Andy Palmer, chairman of EV advocacy group Electric Vehicles UK, told Reuters last week.
“Unless it refreshes its range, it will keep losing market share,” he added.
Experts say the competition that Tesla faces will only get worse, as Chinese automakers roll out their distribution networks in key European markets like Germany, the United Kingdom, and France.
“It will be really critical to see whether Tesla can still compete,” Andy Leyland, co-founder of supply-chain specialist SC Insights, told Reuters.
- Vishakha Saxena
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