BYD says it is deliberately targeting a slow-down in growth this year as it looks to revise its approach to include the manufacture of larger vehicles.
The Chinese automaker has axed its sales targets by a quarter this year from 800,000 units to around 600,000, but insists this was a conscious decision made internally to focus on higher end products.
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“We are predicting a 25% drop this year – we have revised our expectations,” BYD marketing manager Paul Lin told just-auto from Shenzen in Guangdong Province. “In the second quarter the market was not as good as we expected.
“Most importantly we have internally decided not to look for such rapid growth – the most important thing is to handle our quality.”
To that end, BYD will launch new products later this year aimed at the combustion-engine MPVs and SUV markets. Currently most BYD brands retail at the RMB100,000 (US$14,700) level, but the manufacturer is aiming its larger vehicles to the RMB200,000 segment.
BYD is also looking to up its export sales from the current 5%, although it concedes it is something of a late developer compared to its Chinese competitors. “We have less than eight years history and our first model [was in] 2005,” said Lin. “We began our export business in our overseas division in 2007.”
The UK, US and Europe will be the focus for what BYD describes as its “new energy vehicles,” featuring a plug-in and pure electric model. Markets such as Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, Russia and South Asia will see more combustion engine models targeted.
The manufacturer equally claims it is not responsible for the recent spat in which it encountered problems with acquiring land in Shanxi to increase production.
“We got approval from the local government and when they applied to the central government for the application they did not follow process – it is not the fault of BYD,” said Lin.
And the marketing director batted away suggestions US investor Warren Buffett, who has put US$200m into BYD, would walk away sooner rather than later.
“Warren Buffett is a long-term investment,” said Lin. “I don’t know how long but it will not be a few years, it will be long term.”
Lin added the recent 50:50 research and technology joint venture with Daimler known as ‘Shenzhen BYD Daimler New Technology,’ that will develop an electric vehicle for China was going well with work continuing on a new model.
“This will be based on a new exterior and interior and we will provide battery, powertrain and [the] battery management system,” he said.
No date has yet been fixed for the new vehicle’s entry into service, although Lin said it would be in two to three years.
