BYD introduced its new Seal sedan at the IAA Mobility Munich auto show Tuesday, aimed firmly at the market-leading Tesla Model 3, and analysts expect this new Chinese competitor’s range of cars and SUVs to match the quality of its competitors at a sharply lower price.

French automotive consultancy Inovev said BYD’s price advantage across the vehicles it sells in Europe will be between €10,000 ($10,700) and €15,000 ($16,000).

“In Europe, its current range consists of the ATTO 3 (compact SUV), Han sedan (medium premium) and (upmarket) Tang large SUV, with the imminent arrival of the mid-priced Dolphin sedan to line-up alongside the Seal,” Inovev said in a report.

Investment bank UBS said the Seal has a 15% price advantage over the Tesla Model 3, and BYD has a 30% edge over European incumbents.

BYD is also about to unveil its upmarket Denza brand at the Munich show.

China’s long-promised threat to the European market was led by SAIC’s MG, and followed by Geely Automobile Holdings with its Polestar and Lynck & Co brands. BYD is a latecomer, but its attack is ominous because it not only feels able to challenge European mainstream products on price but also reckons it can mix it with the likes of BMW, Mercedes and Audi. That may prove a bridge too far.

Bernstein Research has started coverage of BYD’s stock with an “outperform” rating and has high hopes for its pick.

“China has long dreamed of having its very own national champion in the auto sector, and BYD is turning that into reality. Armed with the scale and cost advantage earned domestically, we expect BYD will rise to be among the top ranks of (manufacturers) globally,” said Bernstein analyst Eunice Lee in a report.

UBS has subjected the Seal to the indignity of a “tear-down”, where it reduces the vehicle to its basic parts and figures out costs and engineering quality.

“Our BYD Seal teardown uncovered its technological innovation and confirmed its cost competitiveness. Leveraging these two key insights, we believe the company is well positioned to enjoy two growth drivers; premiumization and overseas, despite rising competition in China’s EV market,” UBS said in a report.

We regard Seal as BYD’s cost-competitive answer to Tesla’s Model 3,” UBS said.

Bernstein Research said it expects strong sales growth for BYD in China and in strong overseas expansion.

Does it really have a price advantage over its European and U.S. competition?

“BYD has significant cost advantage over its peers, which is primarily driven by vertical integration of batteries and key auto parts, and scale. We estimate BYD has about an 8 to 11 percentage points margin advantage over peers for a BEV with a 60-kWh battery. BYD could see margin attrition in its core mass-market brand due to rising competition, but premiumization and exports will offset and potentially bring upside,” Bernstein’s Lee said.

“We forecast BYD’s overseas sales volume (including Asia and Middle East) will grow from 50,000 in 2022 to 1.5 million by 2030,” Lee said.

UBS said the Seal has an impressive digital setup, with 5G, a big rotating screen and karaoke.

“We believe BYD Seal is not only cost-competitive compared to incumbent legacy brands, but also 15% lower compared to Tesla Model 3. We estimate BYD’s cost is 30% lower than those of western incumbents, allowing it to offer a competitive price in Europe even with tariffs, shipping costs and/or more costly local production,” UBS said.

Schmidt Automotive Research said in Western Europe's first half of 2023, Chinese manufacturers sold 160,000 mainly battery electric vehicles. Just over 75% came from MG. BYD, just beginning its European sales campaign, accounted for 1.9%.

BYD stands for Build Your Dreams. Legendary investor Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway has been a long-term investor. BYD has come from nowhere to overtake Tesla as the world’s leading battery electric vehicle (BEV) manufacturer.

Investment researcher Evercore ISI has said China’s BEVs could account for up to 15% of the European market by 2030 and BYD could account for at least half of that or perhaps 500,000 EVs.

BYD recently launched the ATTO 3.

The European Union has been accused of forcing its citizens to buy BEVs without realizing its manufacturers were at a competitive disadvantage to China. European automakers have been left unprotected, and French manufacturers are the most exposed because they have a bigger share of the lower end of the market for BEVs. France has called for an EU inquiry to find out if China is guilty of selling BEVs priced unfairly.

At the IAA Mobility Show, BYD said there will two versions of the Seal when it arrives later this year. The base rear-wheel version will cost €42,990 after tax ($46,000) in Germany. The all-wheel version will be priced at €50,990.



https://www.forbes.com/sites/neilwinton/202...over-tesla/amp/

This post has been edited by premier239: Sep 8 2023, 12:58 PM

15% price difference. No Brainer to buy the tesla then.

I'll get Tesla over Bing Yong Ding

Build Your Dreams, OTS 126

15% permium only for Tesla…

Confirm buy Tesla lar.

Topap ckit jew pun 😎😎👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼👊🏻👊🏻👊🏻

Tesla software is still much more superior for people outside of China. I see Bei Yan Diu software with bad translations also lost appetite want to puke already. Lucky they're changing their big BUILD YOUR DREAMS if not it'll be even worse.

anything CCP must be ban


must kill xi jin ping

Chinese car manufacturers especially BYD needs to stop all the cringey designs and naming….
See they put the 3.8s badge lol….

This post has been edited by N9484640: Sep 8 2023, 01:36 PM


Attached thumbnail(s)

Bei Yan Diu

I LOLd

Those who bought before Tesla announce price so cheap really Bei Yan Diu lol.

tesla = iphone
byd = android


surely buy tesla

but i just checkout.. BYD seal much better looking wor.. Tesla don't look like alien to you guys?

Yeah, I went to Penang BYD showroom a week ago (second time) because parents wanted to go see, and when I asked them Model 3 is coming with starting price less than 200k, but is supposedly roomier, much faster, better range than your Atto3 extended range, so what's the value proposition here? The salesman can only say err ahhh but Atto3 will be more comfortable la, lower maintenance la, all BS lol.

If Seal 15% cheaper than M3, instant buy~~~

kasi chan salesman la, it is salahn BYD chose to stick back old AP,

else atto3 price wont be this high

nonetheless, BYD deserve it

atto3 is SUV ; Model 3 is Sedan

it's not really apple to apple comparison other than price

Lots of people cross shop B-segment SUVs and C-segment sedans so I don’t see an issue with this comparison. For example people always ask HR-V or Civic.

literally top up sikit dapat Tesla

I agreed with you, does looks nicer and look like a proper car with the slacks and instrument clusters.

The photos that show European car giants are worried about the rise of China

There was a dramatic role reversal at this week's Munich motor show – and these photos show just how concerned the oldest car companies in the world are about the rapid rise of Chinese automakers.

Joshua Dowling

The global automotive industry is changing rapidly, right before our eyes – and it has nothing to do with electric cars or autonomous vehicles.

The rise of Chinese car companies is happening at record pace – and the established automotive brands are starting to get worried about this new challenge.

Australia has been at the forefront of the change – partly because we are an open market with plenty of opportunities for new arrivals, and partly because we love a bargain and are prepared to take a punt on an unknown automotive brand.

China is now the third largest source of new motor vehicles in Australia after Japan and Thailand – and ahead of South Korea (where Hyundai and Kia cars come from), the US and Germany.

Five years ago, Chinese cars accounted for 0.9 per cent of all new motor vehicles sold in Australia. Figures show 10,500 new cars made in China were reported as sold in Australia in calendar-year 2018. The year prior, just 4700 were delivered.

Today, China delivers 16,000 vehicles per month locally – representing almost 15 per cent of the total Australian new-car market so far this year. And they are only just getting started.

It's fair to say the rise of Chinese car sales is not news to Australians. We're the ones embracing it.

The sudden surge in Chinese car sales is one of the main reasons Japanese and South Korean brands are now desperately trying to reposition themselves as "premium" offerings in Australia.

In industry-speak this is a translation for "higher profit margins".

The Japanese and South Korean brands have come to the realisation they cannot compete with Chinese brands on price, thanks to China's lower labour costs and lower manufacturing costs.

So the Japanese and South Koreans are scurrying to higher ground. Some will survive this transition, some will not. Their fate is in the hands of the purchasing decisions made by new-car buyers.

Because the rise of Chinese automotive brands has been much slower in Europe, the oldest car companies in the world haven't been particularly worried – until now.

Which brings us to this week's Munich motor show.

International motor shows attract media and industry experts because all the latest models are in one place. And it's the earliest we get to see important new arrivals, new design themes, new technology, and new materials.

For decades, the media has had to elbow out of the way engineers from Japanese and South Korean car companies to get a closer look at important new models on centre stage.

In years gone by I have seen engineers from various rival car companies whip out a tiny pocket knife and cut a piece of trim or fabric to take back to their head quarters as a sample.

The advent of the camera phone means sample stealing doesn't happen as much these days, but the media still finds itself in a scrum with engineers who are zooming in to take endless photos of every nook and cranny of a new vehicle – inside and out.

It's an annoying but accepted practice these days, but at this year's Munich motor show there was something massively different. And the photos said it all.

Of course, there were engineers snapping close-ups of new cars on their camera phones.

But in a dramatic role reversal, the cars were Chinese – and the people with the cameras were Europeans.


https://www.drive.com.au/news/european-car-...-rise-of-china/