The Chinese car manufacturer BYD sets out to conquer France

The Asian electric car giant sees things big. Vehicles from the Chinese manufacturer BYD will soon be distributed by the main dealership group in France, Emil Frey France, the two partners announced on Tuesday. Two first dealerships are due to open in May in La Teste de Buch (Gironde) and Poitiers (Vienna), before Tours, Niort, Clermont-Ferrand, as well as in Champagne and Hauts-de-France, the groups specified in a communicated.

The Chinese electric and hybrid car giant, Tesla's main competitor, had 23 dealerships in France in 2023, and is aiming for 80 by the end of 2024. It notably sells its Atto 3 sedan, an SUV rival. Tesla Model Y, the Seal sedan or the little Dolphin. Its competitor MG, owned by the large Chinese group SAIC, plans to have 200 dealerships in France by the end of 2024. Tesla, for its part, has 31 branches in France, but makes a large part of its sales online.

BYD supplies its European dealerships from its Chinese factories with its own ships, and also plans to open a car factory in Hungary in three years, where it already assembles electric buses. “It’s a critical year for us, everyone is watching us,” described the brand’s French director, Havana Lan, during a press day in mid-March. It is essential for BYD, relatively unknown to motorists, to have a presence in dealerships, according to its sales director Laurent Dutot. “The test is a very important lever for us,” he stressed. To make itself known, BYD has entered into an expensive partnership with Euro 2024 football.