​The Chinese company BYD is touted as the main competitor to Tesla Motors in the field of electric vehicles, but its presence in Europe is still weak. BYD may also announce its official entry into Romania this year as part of a “wave” of launches on the continent. But what do the BYD cars presented at the Geneva Motor Show look like?

BYD is a very little-known car company here, but more and more people are starting to hear about it in Western Europe, and in the last 18 months it has launched a number of electric models in markets such as the Netherlands and Germany and… most recently, Malta, a tiny market.

A representative of BYD Europe told HotNews.ro at the Geneva Motor Show that new “waves” of the company’s entry into the markets of Central and Eastern Europe will be announced. It is not known when exactly the announcement will be made.

The only market in the region where BYD is present is Hungary, but there is an explanation for this: in December 2023, BYD announced the construction of an electric vehicle plant in the city of Szeged.

BYD is a huge company, which, according to its own data, employs more than 630,000 people. In 2023, it produced almost two million electric cars, and in Europe it has five models in its range with prices ranging from 30,000 to 72,000 euros.

Since 2022, BYD has entered several European countries, and compared to a decade ago, the quality of the company’s cars has improved significantly, more and more technologies are appearing on them, a lot of work has been done on exterior design, and European designers also work at BYD.

BYD came to the Geneva Motor Show “for wealth”, and on the first day it brought only expensive and fancy models, not slightly cheaper ones (Atto 3 and Dolphin, they will be present on the stand the next day, they said). from BYD).

BYD presented on the stand a huge SUV called the Yangwang U8, the Seal SUV (also with hybrid and electric versions), as well as an electric SUV called the Tang, where the promised autonomy is 530 hp.

The U8 SUV became a star: its length is 5.3 meters and costs 140 thousand euros in China. A special feature is that it can swim, and can also move at a speed of 3 km/h on the surface of the water. This is obviously not a car that will sell many units.

Two BYD sub-brands called Denza and Yangweng (the latter is super-luxury) were also launched in Geneva.

BYD develops its own batteries and says the cars are well-priced because they have a well-integrated supply chain. But many important voices in Europe say that Chinese cars are cheap because manufacturers receive heavy subsidies in China.

BYD Europe head Michael Shu said BYD’s low car prices are not because of subsidies, but because BYD is a more efficient and better-run company. “We invested in technology more and faster than our competitors. It’s not because of subsidies,” said Shu, quoted by the Financial Times. He says BYD receives very few subsidies for manufacturing in China.

The company has no intention of bringing a €20,000 electric car to Europe, at least not anytime soon.