Electric vehicles from Chinese manufacturers are approximately three to five years ahead of those from foreign competitors, BYD founder Wang Chuanfu was quoted as saying during an interview with Chinese broadcaster CCTV, reported Fortune.
While one reason for Chinese EV makers’ competitiveness is cost, as they are typically priced lower than products developed in other regions, Wang claimed that BYD’s success is due to their products being more innovative.
“Behind each of our technologies is innovation, and behind each of our technologies is the hard work of 110,000 engineers,” Wang said, saying that the company’s talent is its most important asset. He added that “openness” would enable the rest of the world to enjoy Chinese-made electric vehicles, the report wrote.
Earlier this month, BYD announced the rollout of its DiPilot suite of driving assistance systems that will be deployed across all new BYD models in China, free of charge, across three tiers starting with the BYD Seagull that is priced from 69,800 yuan (RM42,701) in China.
BYD introduced its in-house Blade battery pack in 2020, which has been claimed to be a safety-oriented pack that aims to mitigate concerns about battery safety in electric vehicles.
In the fourth quarter of 2023, BYD outsold Tesla with 526,409 units delivered against the American EV maker’s 484,507 units in that quarter, fuelling concerns from the United States as well as Europe that Chinese EVs may dominate the market.
Last October, the European Union pushed ahead with imposing tariffs of up to 45% on electric vehicles made in China, which the European Commission saw as a way to “counter unfair Chinese subsidies” on Chinese EVs granted by the Chinese government.
This was followed by China lodging a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO), stating that the European Union’s ruling on anti-subsidy measures “lacks factual and legal foundation, violates the WTO rules and is an abuse of trade remedy measures.”
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