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China\u2019s top-selling automaker BYD Co. expects overseas deliveries to account for almost half of total sales in the future, suggesting it will continue to set up global production hubs to overcome punishing tariffs. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOur overseas market will account for a relatively large proportion of our global sales in the future,\u201d Executive Vice President Stella Li in an interview at the company\u2019s Shenzhen headquarters on Monday. Asked to be more specific, she said \u201cnearly half\u201d of sales will come from overseas.<\/p>\n
While Li didn\u2019t give a specific time frame for the global sales goal, it would require a huge increase in production and deliveries. BYD is on track to hit 500,000 overseas sales this year, having reached 270,000 in the first seven months\u2014accounting for around 14% of its overall total. BYD\u2019s overall target is to sell approximately 3.6 million fully electric and plug-in hybrid cars in 2024, mostly in its home market.<\/p>\n
To achieve the global goal, BYD is investing billions of dollars on production facilities in Europe, Asia and South America to serve local markets and skirt trade barriers being thrown up against Chinese electric vehicles. The European Union earlier this month\u00a0imposed<\/a>\u00a0an additional 17% duty on BYD cars, while\u00a0Canada<\/a>\u00a0and the U.S. have both slapped\u00a0100% levies\u00a0<\/a>on Chinese EVs, accusing China of cheating on trade by subsidizing its auto industry.\u00a0<\/p>\n BYD has a\u00a0factory<\/a>\u00a0up and running in Thailand, and more manufacturing capacity being built in\u00a0Hungary<\/a>, Brazil and\u00a0Turkey<\/a>. It has committed to build a plant in Indonesia and is poised to sign a\u00a0production<\/a>\u00a0deal in Mexico. To build its brand awareness outside China, it last month signed a deal with Uber Technologies Inc. to put\u00a0100,000 EVs<\/a>\u00a0onto the ride-hailing company\u2019s platform, and was one of the major sponsors of the Euro 2024 and Copa America soccer tournaments.\u00a0<\/p>\n The international push will likely feature in a robust financial report\u2014and rising first-half net income\u2014that BYD will release later Wednesday.<\/p>\n The 50% global sales goal probably won\u2019t be achieved until the end of the decade, according to Bloomberg Intelligence China auto analyst Joanna Chen.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat 50% mix is at least a 2030 story, or even later,\u201d Chen said. \u201cAmong Chinese OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), Chery Auto\u2019s current mix is roughly half export and half domestic. It was the earliest to go overseas and is now the largest Chinese OEM in terms of exports. Others still depend heavily on the domestic market.\u201d<\/p>\n BYD has been selling well in countries like Brazil, Israel, Thailand and Australia, but\u00a0European drivers<\/a>\u00a0remain less enthused about buying an EV, reflecting the broader trouble for legacy and new players across the continent. BYD has also become the dominant force in its home market, overtaking established western automakers like Volkswagen AG to sell 3 million units last year.<\/p>\n BYD is also setting up its own data centers in individual European countries as it expands its autonomous and internet-connected cars, Li said.<\/p>\n The data collected won\u2019t be sent to China, she said, heading off data security concerns, something the U.S. is seeking to tackle.<\/p>\n Efforts to keep customer data safe mirrors a commitment by rival EV maker Xpeng Inc. to set up\u00a0large-scale<\/a>\u00a0data centers in Europe to cope with software data collection in its intelligent-driving cars.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nData Centers<\/h2>\n
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