A few hours after arriving on Monday from a flight from Los Angeles, where she lives, Stella Li, BYD’s senior vice president, headed straight to Cidade Jardim Avenue, a fashionable spot in São Paulo, where the most luxurious automobile stores in the country are lined up. In front of BYD’s first dealership in Brazil, the executive handed the keys to the first three buyers of the Tan EV, the model with which China’s largest electric car manufacturer makes its debut in the Brazilian electric luxury car market.

Ms. Li made a point of personally participating in a ritual that, in general, would not require the travel of a top executive like her, and the choice of location was not mere chance. The corner showroom where this 50 year old executive delivered the keys smiling all the time was acquired by Henry Visconde, owner of the Eurobike group, to install the first BYD dealership in Brazil.

The meeting of the executive born in the province of Yunnan, a mountainous region in the southwest of China, with the businessman from Ribeirão Preto is strategic. To do well in a competitive market, the brand, still little known by the Brazilian consumer, decided to ally itself with a strong group, which already sells luxury vehicles from brands such as BMW, Porsche, and Audi, and operates basically in the markets of São Paulo, São Paulo countryside, Brasília, and Goiás, regions that concentrate a significant part of those who can afford to buy cars for R$500,000, the price of the new Tan EV.

BYD’s move is bold. The Tan EV is not a simple electric car. It is the first all-electric seven-seat SUV to be launched in a country where, as everyone knows, there is still a shortage of battery charging infrastructure on the roads. And vehicles of this size are usually used a lot for traveling.

But Mr. Visconde is preparing to prevent his loyal customers from being let down. In partnership with Enel X, Eurobike is getting ready to offer recharging stations on the routes most used by its clients. In May, the first point will be installed in the São Paulo-Ribeirão Preto direction, at the Empyreo Ranch, a traditional stop for meals. Next, another point will be installed in the opposite direction. After these, will come the loaders between Brasília and Goiania. Mr. Visconde foresees an investment of R$1.5 million in this first phase. The autonomy of BYD’s car — around 437 kilometers — allows for the arrival trip to one of these stretches. But, says Mr. Visconde, it is better to guarantee and offer peace to the driver.

Besides Eurobike, which plans to open two more stores of the Chinese brand, BYD is in the phase of appointing more dealers who know well the routes of their customers and how to convince them to buy 100% electric vehicles. The plan is to reach 45 locations in Brazil this year and reach 100 dealerships by the end of 2023.

“There is nothing to worry about; this car has a good range,” stresses Ms. Li, who seems less concerned about the local charging infrastructure and more enthusiastic about the growth potential of electromobility in the world. From 2020 to 2021 the share of electric cars in China jumped to 13.3% from 5.5%. This includes electric and so-called “plug-in” models, which are hybrid models that can also be plugged in. In Brazil, hybrid and electric models account for 1.7% of sales.

The executive recalls BYD’s announcement earlier this month about its decision to completely discontinue the production of fuel-only vehicles. “Who could have imagined ten years ago that this would happen,” said Ms. Li, who started working at BYD (Build Your Dreams) when the listed company was founded 27 years ago.

With a background in statistics, Ms. Li has received several awards, including “Most Powerful Woman” from China’s “Fortune” last year. What makes a woman powerful? Work, she answers. And how does a woman succeed in a mostly male environment, such as automotive? “The one who makes the decision to buy a car in a family is almost always the woman,” she says, jokingly. Also in 2021, Ms. Li was named by “Forbes China” among the 60 most outstanding Chinese in North America, where she moved 11 years ago to take the helm of BYD in the Americas.

With 33 factories in the world, operations outside China still represent little — about 10% of the total sales of the company that does not stop growing. In just one month, in March, BYD sold 104,300 vehicles — including cars and light commercial vehicles (LCV). This volume, which is equivalent to the total of cars of all brands sold in Brazil in March, represented 160.9% growth compared to the same month in 2021. In one year the company’s revenue grew more than 50%, totaling $33 billion.

For the executive, Brazilians tend to be interested in Chinese cars because they like technology. “And electromobility is also a way to reduce dependence on oil,” she says.

Until now, BYD was best known by Brazilians for selling bus chassis and vans. These vehicles are assembled in a factory in Campinas, built in 2015.

The operation is still small. There 150 employees work in one shift. Also in Campinas, the Chinese group has a photovoltaic module factory, which opened in 2017. To supply its fleet of electric buses, the company started operating its third factory in Brazil in Manaus in 2020, where iron-lithium phosphate batteries are produced. The company is also responsible for two monorail projects in the country – in Salvador (VLT do Subúrbio) and in São Paulo (Line 17 of the subway).

Source: Valor International

https://valorinternational.globo.com