Chinese carmaker BYD eyes one-tenth of the electric vehicle market in Germany. The ambition was made public by its sales director Lars Pauly, who didn’t commit to timing for the target.

BYD’s commercial start in dedicated markets in Europe is very fresh. But the brand obviously aims to make its mark. “We want to have around 5 to 10% in the electric segment in the medium term,” commented Pauly, who is currently setting up a sales structure in Germany, where the company started offering five models (Dolphin, Seal, Han, Atto 3, Tang) as of the beginning of this year.

Modest share

During the first months, the Chinese company registered sales of 165 cars in Germany, according to the Federal Motor Transport Authority, on 1,1 million battery-powered cars. So there’s a lot of ground to cover before the brand hits that target.

However, BYD shouldn’t be underestimated. Next to building cars, it’s the second biggest battery manufacturer in the world, one of the few Chinese car brands with a comprehensive export strategy in Asia-Pacific and beyond. This year, the brand managed to dethrone Volkswagen as the best-selling car brand in its home country. In Belgium, BYD opened its third showroom at the beginning of this month.

MG on top

Until now, the success of Chinese brands in Europe’s well-established market remains modest. In absolute numbers, they account for a minor share. In Germany, they reached 0,9% in 2022, but, on the other hand, the underlying trend is a sharp rise.

Last year, registrations for Chinese cars leapfrogged from 66 100 to 152 400 units, according to JATO Dynamics, a growth unrivaled by any other carmaker.

The lion’s share of those Chinese cars – almost nine out of ten – are MG-badged models, now outselling established players like Jeep and Honda in Europe. According to Pauly, BYD targets price-sensitive customers. He also added that the days where Chinese brands disgraced themselves with unsafe and low-quality products are over.

Losing 7 billion euros

The arrival of Chinese brands, who have also infiltrated the European automotive market by take-overs and participative shares in Europe’s legacy car manufacturers, is closely monitored.

A recent report by insurance broker Allianz calculated that the traditional car brands could yield a market value of 7 billion euros to the Chinese ‘invasion’ by the decade’s end.

Allianz also noted that the three best-sold EVs of today are ‘made in China’. It refers to cars like the Tesla Model 3, Model Y, and Polestar 2. The report also predicts that European customers will massively shift toward Chinese-built vehicles. Currently, four out of five cars sold in Europe are locally made.