Mainland EV makers like BYD have potential to establish foothold in Southeast Asian markets, panel at Post’s China Conference hears
- The quality, range and technology of some very established Chinese brands like BYD are far, far superior, CEO of Inchcape Greater China and Singapore says
- Expect very strong year-on-year growth in EV sales in China to continue, portfolio manager at asset manager Ninety One says
“This could be the era of the so-called Chinese OEMs, because they are quite leading in terms of [battery-powered] cars,” Jasmmine Wong, CEO of Inchcape Greater China and Singapore, told the panel, which was called “Driving into the Fossil Fuel Free Future in Asia: the electric vehicle ecosystem in Southeast Asia”. “If you look at BYD and some of the very established Chinese brands … the quality, and the so-called range and technology is far, far superior.”
“[China’s EV brands] have a lot of potential, but what they really need to build are trust and credentials, and also credibility in the mind of the consumer,” Wong said. “People need to get used to the Chinese OEM brand, and the brand must mean something. [There] must be a pledge to the consumer in terms of safety. All this takes time to build.”
Founded by Chinese billionaire Wang Chuanfu in 1995, BYD has been making vehicles since 2003. The initials of the brand stand for “Build Your Dream”.
“More countries are adopting [EVs], and Chinese OEMs have been very aggressively coming into Southeast Asian markets like Indonesia and Thailand,” Wong said. “I think they are here to stay. They are probably the only ones that till today, are able to give very economic offerings of affordable EVs, compared to the other branded OEMs.”
Most of BYD’s vehicles are priced below 200,000 yuan (US$29,054), compared with about 300,000 yuan for smart EVs.
BYD was the second most popular EV brand in Singapore last year, just 89 units short of Tesla, according to data on new annual registrations of cars by the city state’s Land Transport Authority (LTA).
Singapore’s EV ecosystem – unlike China’s – is still at a very early stage, Wee Shann Lam, deputy CEO (technology) at LTA, told the panel.
Chinese EV market in consolidation stage, BYD chief says
“We’ve reached this tipping point in EV sales within China,” Graeme Baker, sustainable equity portfolio manager at asset manager Ninety One, said in an interview. “You see very strong year-on-year growth – we expect that to continue.
“With China coming out of Covid-19 lockdowns, we do expect to see some positive growth in that area.”