The Chinese EV maker has already crossed Tesla in terms of sales and it is showing no signs of stopping being backed by a strong foundation in its native country, which already started adapting EVs a decade ago. Now they have entered India with their very successful BYD Atto 3 which they will launch in the Indian market on 16th November.
It’s an electric SUV that indeed looks futuristic and much better than the ones available in the current Indian market. With a claimed mileage of up to 521km in a single charge, this certainly attracts a lot of potential EV buyers in India.
How is BYD a threat to Indian car brands like TATA and Mahindra?
The Chinese giant, which has become famous for its Blade batteries or Solid State batteries has quickly become superior in terms of quality and features. Overturning Tesla’s own manufacturing record and selling more EVs in a year is in itself a great job.
Because of its constant innovation, Tesla itself will be sourcing these new batteries from BYD soon. So, considering how big of a thing BYD is currently, the brand’s entry into India obviously poses threat to Indian automakers like TATA and Mahindra.
While TATA Motors is the leader in terms of the Indian EV market and has recently delivered 50,000 EVs, will face stiff competition from BYD. As the Chinese giant will start manufacturing EVs in India and price the Atto 3 at Rs.30 lakh (expectedly), this will put direct pressure on all EV makers in India.
Starting with the BYD Atto 3, we expect the Electric car maker will further extend its portfolio in India and associate with more dealers to capture Indian buyers. The Atto 3 is no less a premium EV with a 12.8-inch rotating touchscreen and a 5-inch digital instrument cluster, leather upholstery, automatic climate control and many other features.
In terms of safety, BYD has given features like a 360-degree camera, cruise control, front and rear collision warning, lane keeps assistance to name a few of them. With a dimension of 4,455mm in length, this makes the Atto 3 a proper SUV and a direct alternative to popular models like MG ES EV and Hyundai Kona.
Now, BYD remains both aggressive in price and local manufacturers of its popular models in India, the rising Indian brands like TATA and Mahindra will seriously be in danger. While TATA Motors is the leader in the EV space in India with multiple models like Tiago EV, Nexon EV and Tigor EV along with next-gen models like Curvv, and Avinya in line for the next few years but BYD could be a serious threat with its superior technology and pricing.
On the other hand, Mahindra, who has just launched the XUV400 EV and is popular with its models like eVerito in the commercial space, is again a brand that is investing a lot to capitalise on the Indian EV market. The best SUV maker, Mahindra has tied up with German automaker Volkswagen to make the new Born Electric platform which will bring classy EVs like BE 5,7 and 9 and also will make the XUV lineup of futuristic EVs in the coming years.
Price will play a key
In a price-conservative country like India, a lot of people will love more range from their EVs which BYD is offering but at a higher cost, it might be well suited for some but most people will demand more for the price they pay. While Indians are still in the shifting period to EVs, which will again last for few more years, price-to-performance, styling and brand image will play a key role. Many Indians will love both TATA and Mahindra brands propering in the country but only if they match BYD in terms of price-to-performance and keep innovating in this space to help people shift to EVs sooner or later.
So, both Indian brands TATA and Mahindra can capitalise on the trillion-dollar EV market of India which will burst in the next few years as the prices of these vehicles reduce. Now, BYD has a huge chance of challenging these two brand with its huge inflow of cash and wealth of technology at its disposal, so, it will be interesting to see how BYD strategize the Indian market and opportunitize the rising EV space.
