by Giulio Piovaccari and Nick Carey
Milan/Shanghai (Reuters) – BYD, the first Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer is, according to six former and current executives, reorganizing its activities in Europe after having made strategic errors, in particular by not recruiting enough dealers, by not studying local markets enough, and by not offering hybrid vehicles on the markets.
According to executives, who spoke under the cover of anonymity, Byd acted quickly to remedy these first failures on the European export markets, in particular by developing its network of dealers and recruiting managers of European manufacturers with high remuneration.
The Chinese VE leader also announced in December that rechargeable hybrids would be essential to its European strategy.
This decision was made after the European Special Councilor of Byd, Alfredo Altavilla – one of the main executives hired for the revival of Byd in Europe – informed the founder and president of the group, Wang Chuanfu, that a purely focused strategy on electric vehicles was not adapted to European countries.
“He quickly understood the message and told BYD engineers that each new model should be offered in a VE and hybrid version” for Europe, Alfredo Altavilla told Reuters.
“It is necessary to educate customers in ecological transition,” he said.
In December, Alfredo Altavilla declared in Italy that the rechargeable hybrid vehicles would be “at the heart of Byd’s strategy in Europe”, believing that it would be “stupid” to go against consumer preferences by offering only VEs.
Approached by Byd in June, Alfredo Altavilla is a former Fiat-Chrysler executive, and joined the Chinese automaker in August.
He in turn hired several directors of Stellantis for the Chinese group of VE, including Maria Grazia Davino to lead the German market, Alessandro Grosso for Italy and Alberto de Aza for Spain.
According to a current leader in Byd, the Chinese car manufacturer has offered them significant salary increases and a “chance to develop”.
The recruitment of executives coming from European car manufacturers testifies to the difficulties of Byd to develop in European markets and its efforts to remedy it.
Byd refused to comment.
Too high expectations?
Another sign of the determination of Byd to quickly strengthen its activities in Europe, the company entrusted the region’s responsibility last year to its second leader, Stella Li.
The former European official, Michael Shu, had predicted that Byd would take at least 5% of the European electric vehicle market before launching production in his first European factory, in Hungary, later this year.
However, the Chinese group ended the year 2024 with a market share of only 2.8%, BYD sales totaling 57,000 vehicles in the region, below its expectations.
The urgency for Byd to develop in Europe is partly explained by the soaring of its sales in China, which have been multiplied by seven since 2020 to reach 4.2 million vehicles in 2024.
Byd also exceeded Tesla last year as the world’s leading seller of electric vehicles, and is now the sixth world car manufacturer.
Its Chinese competitors, notably Chery, Geely, Xpeng and Changan, are also hastened to extend their activities in Europe to increase their profits, which are difficult to maintain in China due to a prix war between many VE brands.
According to BYD partners and industry experts, the Chinese manufacturer has recognized its problems in Europe and has taken measures to solve them.
“They take this very seriously, but they must understand that it takes time to build a position in Europe,” said Tim Albertsen, Managing Director of Ayvens, one of the largest leasing companies in Europe and byd partner in the region.
“Like European or American car manufacturers arriving in China, which Chinese do well in China is not always working in Europe.”
The first signs show, however, that the restart of byd in Europe is bearing fruit. European sales in Byd have more than tripled in the first quarter of 2025 to reach more than 37,000 vehicles, compared to around 8,500 in the first quarter of 2024.
Bo Yu, national director for China of the research company Jato Dynamics, estimated that the force of Byd in China partly reflects its ability to “evolve very quickly to give consumers what they want.”
The electric vehicle giant, for example, has run its Chinese rivals in February by offering its “God’s eye” driving technology for free in all its range, including in vehicles costing less than 10,000 dollars.
During the Shanghai Shanghai Automobile Fair this week, Byd also presented a huge exhibition of vehicles under four different brands, thus overshadowing most other car manufacturers.
“The basics still lack”
Trying somehow to expand in Europe since 2023 after its meteoric ascent in China, byd aimed to be the first seller of electric vehicles on the old continent by 2030.
However, the group did not study European markets beforehand, according to the executives with which Reuters was able to maintain each other.
The example of the expensive and highly publicized sponsorship of Euro 2024 football in Germany illustrates this vision. The group then presented itself as the first manufacturer of “NEV” (new energy vehicles), a term commonly used but meaning in Europe.
The BYD dealership network was also too small and too concentrated in large cities, the executives added.
Byd plans to extend its network of concessionaires from 27 to 120 sites in Germany, told Reuters in March Maria Grazia Davino, the former director of Stellantis now in charge of the German market for Byd.
In Germany in 2024, the largest automotive market in Europe where 2.8 million vehicles were sold last year, byd sold less than 2,900 cars
“The German market is not easy,” recognized Maria Grazia Davino. “The basics are still missing here.”
According to some former executives of the group, the main error of BYD has been to treat Europe as a single market – such as China or the United States – rather than several markets spread over the different countries.
The European national markets would be similar to “frogs in a saucepan,” which all jump in different directions, compared a former group’s executive, adding: “Byd is just starting to learn it.”
(Report Nick Carey in London and Giulio Piovaccari in Milan; with Alessandro Parodi in Gdansk; Etienne Breban; edited by Augustin Turpin)
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