Chinese automaker giant BYD will start selling vehicles this quarter in the UK, where electric cars are seizing a growing share of the market.
The automaker backed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has appointed four UK dealer partners in Pendragon, Arnold Clark, Lookers and LSH, the automaker said.
BYD’s debut model will be the Atto 3 SUV, and it will announce more dealer partners and pricing in the coming weeks.
BYD began its expansion in Europe last year and plans to offer the Atto 3 compact crossover alongside the Tang large SUV and the Han large sedan in the region.
While the UK remains one of Europe’s biggest car markets, automakers have struggled to revive sales since the start of the pandemic, with registrations slumping to a 30-year low in 2022.
EVs have been a bright spot, with battery-electric models accounting for around 17 percent of deliveries last year, overtaking diesel for the first time.
Shenzhen-based BYD has already moved into countries including Norway, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands and Belgium.
The group — which also has been making a big push into other markets around Asia, including Thailand and Australia — may even pass up Tesla in global EV sales this year by expanding its model lineup and manufacturing capacity, according to BloombergNEF.
When including its plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, BYD already outsold Tesla in 2022, and its sales of full-electric vehicles soared to around 911,000 last year, from 321,000 in 2021.
