BYD To Stick To Europe Growth Plans Despite Subsidies Probe

(Bloomberg) — BYD Co. will keep pushing for strong growth in Europe even as the region begins an anti-subsidies probe, said a top executive at the Chinese electric-vehicle juggernaut.

“We are a publicly traded company that needs to be managed with transparency and open to sharing information,” Executive Vice President Stella Li said in an interview. “So we don’t worry about any investigation going on in Europe.”

The European Union formally launched this week an investigation into EVs manufactured in China over alleged subsidies granted by the state. The one-year probe could eventually lead to measures such as import duties.

BYD will share all the information required by authorities to dispel any confusion about their production, Li said. The growth of EVs “is a revolution. A lot of people don’t understand, they’re concerned, they’re worried,” Li said. “But once you share the data, the reality, I think they’ll see that there is nothing to be challenged.”

Li made these comments at an interview in Santiago, Chile. She is part of a delegation of executives touring Latin America, including BYD’s chairman and founder Wang Chuanfu.    

Wang’s visit to Latin America — his first since before the pandemic — is a sign of the attention that BYD is giving to the region, Li said.  The billionaire also helped launch the company’s Seal sedan in Chile.

Earlier Friday, Wang met Chilean President Gabriel Boric, where they discussed accelerating electrification and developing the local lithium industry, Li said.

The Chilean president is flying to China Oct. 12 on a week-long tour in an effort to improve trade relations with the world’s second-largest economy. 

BYD has sold more than 2 million clean cars globally this year through September, half of them fully electric and the rest hybrid. A gauge of battery-powered vehicle sales saw BYD fall just short of toppling Tesla Inc. as the biggest seller of pure-electric car in the third quarter.

“We’re not really interested in competing to see who is bigger,” Li said. “We want Tesla to be very successful because the more they are, it will help educate people on electrification.”

Read More: Tesla and BYD Set the Pace With Surge in Electric-Car Sales

In Chile, the nation with the biggest reserves of lithium, BYD is holding talks with authorities and companies including SQM on a new extraction technology, It’s also working on a cathode factory after being granted access to preferential prices for lithium mined by SQM, which is expected to begin production within 24 months, Li said. 

The delegation earlier visited Mexico, where BYD is studying the construction of a passenger vehicle plant. Their next stop is Brazil, where the company is building its first electric-car plant outside Asia as part of a plan to set up a regional manufacturing and innovation hub. 

Read More: BYD Picks Brazil for First Electric-Vehicle Hub Outside Asia 

–With assistance from Danny Lee.