Chinese carmaker BYD aiming to zoom past Toyota
- Source: Gasgoo.com
- [16:51 December 08 2010]
- Comments
Fast-growing Chinese battery and automaker BYD Co. is thinking big - really big. It aims to overtake Toyota Motor Co. to become the global auto leader in under two decades, company officials say.
"It's our company's long-term target, to be China's No. 1 automaker by 2015 and to be the world's leading car maker by 2025," Jasmine Huang, a senior marketing representative for BYD, said in a phone interview Thursday.
"So far, our sales come mainly from domestic demand, but we are also thinking of expanding to overseas markets," Huang said, confirming similar comments by another BYD executive, deputy general manager Wang Jianjun, to the state-run newspaper China Daily.
Like other up-and-coming Chinese automakers, BYD has set its sights on breaking into major markets such as the US and Europe.
Although it started out building conventional cars, late last year it became the first automaker to launch mass production of a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, that can be charged off a standard home outlet.
Whether BYD will succeed in meeting stringent US and European standards for safety and quality, as well as customer expectations for comfort and performance, remains to be seen.
Chinese automakers remain reliant on mostly foreign technology and design and are still nowhere close to meeting finicky Western and Japanese standards, but they are catching up, analysts say. China's auto industry earlier this year overtook the US in market size.
BYD might initially launch exports of a limited number of vehicles, just for the sake of its marketing and branding, says Scott Laprise, an industry analyst at CLSA.
"It's all about advertising and brand building," Laprise said. "That's going to be massive publicity. Don't sell anyone cars. Just let the world know you are the world leaders and then see what happens."
