Buoyed by strong bus sales, Chinese battery maker BYD announces EV car sales in Japan

TOKYO, July 23, 2022—On July 21, the Japanese arm of the Chinese battery maker BYD announced entry into the Japanese EV car market unveiling commending sales of three models from November 2022, its decision apparently buoyed by the dominating 70 percent market share of the EV bus market in Japan.
The BYD pitch must be a big shock to the Japanese automakers that are struggling with R&D and sales of their EVs that clearly are far behind European and American rivals including Tesla.
The ATTO3 SUV, Dolphin compact, and Seal passenger car are scheduled to be sold from November.
BYD Japan, founded in 2005, sold its EV buses to the city of Kyoto in 2015, and since then has been steadily albeit slowly expanding EV bus sales, now commanding about 7/10th of 65 EV buses sold in Japan, according to BYD Japan. The Japanese public sector is in the midst of replacing diesel-powered buses with EV and gas-EV hybrid buses.
Though prices weren’t available, the BYD’s impressive market share clearly reflects its pricing advantage. While Toyota Motor’s mini EV called C-pod is priced at 1.6-1.7 million yen, China’s mini EV is less than 1/3rd the price.
Among few Japanese EV models are: Nissan Motor’s LEAF and Ariya; Mitsubishi Motor’s Outlander PHEV and Minicab MiEV, Eclipse Cross; Toyota’s 300e. Most European automakers are selling EVs in Japan, and their prices are much lower than comparable Japanese EVs.
A major reason why Japanese automakers are behind – many critics say that the Japanese are at least two rounds of a 400 meter track behind – is the failure to develop durable, powerful batteries and battery management software.
Foreign inroads into the Japanese EV market, fortunately for the Japanese manufacturers, are limited by bureaucracy red tape on motor vehicle safety and environmental certifications and standards. Japanese businesses that want to sell Chinese EV minis are required to clear dozens of regulations and tests, making the price of the mini, approximately $5,000 to at least three times, or about the same as Toyota’s C-pod.

###