In the first quarter of this year he sold four thousand electric vehicles. But the goal of the Chinese Byd is to reach 2 percent of our market thanks to “full optional” cars and super competitive prices. His strength? Produce everything at home and continue to develop news.
More central than that was impossible: In Milan a byd showroom is in Piazza Duomobehind the great cathedral, an area of the most popular in the country’s economic capital. An exclusive position that joins the massive communication campaign started by the Chinese car manufacturer for the conquest of the Italian market. Spot in conjunction with the Sanremo Festival, a shimmering event at Design Week, burst messages on social networks with sogans winking such as: “While Europe sleeps we think about the future”. Byd landed in our country in June 2023. The branch currently has about fifty employees, of whom a third of Chinese language, but the number is destined to grow rapidly: at the end of the year they should be seventy. From the provisional offices in via Turati in Milan, the staff are moving to the new headquarters in the Garibaldi area. The CEO is Alessandro Grosso, a former Stellantis manager, while to manage the advance in Europe, the group enrolled Alfredo Altavilla as a consultant, thanks to a long experience in Fiat. And he has already contributed by changing the cars to adapt them to the guidance taste of the European Championships (See interview on page 20).
The range offered by Byd to Italian customers has eight models, from Act 2, an electric city-SUV of 29 thousand euros, up to the luxurious seven-seater SUV Tang that costs around 72 thousand euros. The best-selling is the Seal U DM-I, a plug-in hybrid (i.e. with a burst engine and an electric one powered by a rechargeable battery per socket) which starts from less than 40 thousand euros. All models debut in the electric version only and then be accompanied in a few months by the plug-in hybrid model.
Despite having started recently and offering an electrified range, for now not much loved by Italians, Byd has scored significant results: in the first three months of 2025 he sold almost four thousand cars, exceeding established brands such as Volvo, Mini and Tesla and conquering in March one percent of market share. Limited numbers that however grow rapidly, considering that in the first quarter of 2024 the Chinese house had registered just 158 cars. To make these cars interesting is the favorable ratio between price and super technological equipment: they have everything, including level 2 driving assistance, which allows the car to drive practically alone but which requires keeping your hands on the steering wheel. And for this year the goal of the company is to reach 2 percent of the Italian market thanks to the progressive expansion of the network: at the end of 2025 the Chinese house should count on 70 dealers with 120 stores. In addition, next to the byd models, the Premium Denza brand, a concentrate of technology and high performance ready to challenge Porsche, made its European debut at Milan Design Week.
It is precisely the technology that has fueled the impetuous growth of Byd in the Chinese market and to offer them the cards to be successful globally. In 2024 the group sold 4.3 million electric cars and plug-ins, those that the Chinese call Nev (New Energy Vehicle), with a leap of 41 percent compared to the year before. Result: the house placed sixth place in the world ranking of car producers behind Stellantis. And he reached Tesla in totally electric cars sales.
But be careful: the bulk of his production was absorbed by Chinawhere since 2023 it has become the best -selling automotive brand, exceeding Volkswagen, while only 417 thousand cars have been exported. For this year, the war of the duties permitting, the company aims to sell a total of 5.5 million cars, with a strong attention to the expansion of its activity abroad, where over 800 thousand vehicles should place: in the sights there are Europe, Southeast Asia and South America.
To make the idea of the intentions of the byd managers, the company is quickly expanding its fleet of cargo ships, capable of transporting thousands of cars. In parallel, it is opening a series of plants in all continents, including Europe (in Hungary and soon in Türkiye), while in China it has announced the construction of a large-class city as large as Turin.
Based in Shenzhen, Byd (acronym for Build Your Dreams, “Build your dreams”) was founded in 1994 as a producer of rechargeable batteries by Wang Chuanfu, current president and CEO. Born in 1966 and a member of the Chinese Communist Party, Wang studied chemistry and material science and then launched into the entrepreneurial adventure by betting on the battery business. And it was successful: Byd became the first Chinese supplier of lithium -ion accumulators for Motorola in the year 2000 and for Nokia in 2002. Today its Findreams Battery branch reached the second position in the world among the producers of batteries for electric vehicles.
In 2003 Wang Chuanfu decided to exploit the experience in the production of batteries to start diversification in the automotive sector. His first car, the compact byd F3, arrived on the market in September 2005 and became the first Chinese vehicle to sell more than 10 thousand units per month. In 2008 the company launched the first plug-in hybrid car in the world and in that year the Berkshire Hathaway by Warren Buffett announced the acquisition of a share of the company’s shares.
A strong point of the byd car division is its vertical integration: It internally produces most of the components, including batteries, electric engines and electronic systems. This domain on the supply chain offers incredible advantages in terms of costs, quality control and flexibility in production. And of innovative capacity: the company continues to develop novelties, such as the Blade Battery, which uses the lithium-fifth lithium-fiaro chemistry and is renowned for its safety, extended autonomy and quick charging skills. Or like the new ultra -very charging technology capable of adding 400 kilometers of autonomy to an electric car in just five minutes, exceeding the Tesla SuperChenger. Or even the baptized intelligent driving system God’s Eyes“The eyes of God”.
The group is also present in other sectors: it produces buses, railway systems, cellular components, solar modules and domestic batteries. It is a giant that in 2024 broke through the $ 100 billion in turnover and grows at frightening rhythms: ten years ago his turnover was only 12 billion. But on his way he could meet some obstacles: intense competition in the Chinese market of electric vehicles with the relative price war, disputes relating to work practices and ethics of the supply chain, the accusations of having public support from the government of the province of Shenzhen.
However, these obstacles represent a real threat to the Byd group, It has now become a technological giant ahead of light years compared to western competitors. And led by a determined man like Wang Chuanfu, who lost his parents as a child, he was raised as a sister and brother, worked like a crazy and became a billionaire. Today is the symbol of China who wins. But always without giving too many arias. “You do more and talks less” is his motto. If it goes on like this, in a few years we will find it at the top of the world ranking of car manufacturers.
