Beijing pledged to boost green energy consumption and reduce carbon emissions by 2030. In response, China’s BYD announces that it is going to completely stop making gasoline engine vehicles. However, smaller highly efficient engines will be made as they will be included in plug-in vehicles.
“In the future, BYD will focus on pure electric and plug-in hybrids in the automobile sector,” the company said in a statement filed to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Sunday. BYD will not completely stop making gasoline engines since smaller highly efficient engines will continue to be used in plug-in hybrid cars. Its move is in response to Beijing’s pledge to boost green energy consumption to bring carbon emissions to a peak by 2030.
BYD is among six carmakers — the others being Volvo, Ford, General Motors, Mercedes-Benz, and Jaguar Land Rover — to have signed up to a global campaign to phase out combustion engine vehicles by 2040. BYD sold 104,878 units of new energy vehicles (NEV) in March, surging from just 24,218 units in the same month a year earlier, and marking its highest monthly sales ever. Last month’s sales comprised 53,664 pure EV and 50,674 plug-in hybrid cars and 540 commercial NEV cars.
The company also said in the statement that it will continue providing comprehensive services and supplies of spare parts throughout the life cycle to existing fuel vehicle customers.
BYD in other markets
BYD has launched its EVs in India as well, in the form of its pure electric premium MPV e6. The BYD e6 electric MPV is available in India at a price of Rs.29.15 lakh (ex-showroom). The premium MPV is currently available for fleet buyers only in India.
Plugin vehicles are all the rage in the Chinese auto market. Even in the slowest month of the year (March), plugins scored 291,000 registrations, up 176% year over year (YoY). Looking at February’s best sellers, it was noted that there were four plugin models in the overall top 10, the Wuling Mini EV(4th), BYD Song (5th — BEV+PHEV), BYD Qin Plus (6th — BEV+PHEV), and Tesla Model Y (8th) all had top 10 presences.
BYD’s midsize SUV is looking to replicate the success of the Qin in its category, and its rise and rise is proof of that, having scored a record result (19,057 registrations) in the slowest month of the year! So it seems the Song PHEV is set for a 20,000-plus performance in March. Besides the record performance of the PHEV version, the BEV version had 3,669 registrations, leading to a total of 22,756 units, which allowed it to rise to #5 in the overall market while staying significantly above last quarter’s average of 18,261 units. And the ramp-up continues
