What’s new: Chinese electric vehicle (EV) giant BYD Co. Ltd. is poised to enter Indonesia’s passenger car market in the latest step of its global expansion.
The Shenzhen-based carmaker, which stopped making vehicles running on fossil fuels to focus on pure electric cars and plug-in hybrids in March 2022, will hold a product launch event Thursday in Jakarta, BYD said in a media invitation to Caixin, without providing further details.
In the letter, BYD labeled the Southeast Asian country as an integral part of its “long-term global business expansion roadmap,” as the Indonesian government aims to widen the use of EVs in a bid to reduce emissions.
The first EV models that BYD will bring to the Indonesian market are the Seal sedan, the Dolphin hatchback and the Atto 3 SUV, local media outlet Tempo reported Monday, citing a company sales representative.
The background: BYD, which already sells vehicles in more than 70 countries, has been trying to further expand its global footprint and in 2023 exported 242,765 cars, a year-on-year increase of 334.2%, according to company data.
The carmaker has also accelerated efforts to localize manufacturing in overseas markets, with the most recent such push occurring in December when it announced plans to build its first European factory in Hungary, which will produce EVs and plug-in hybrids for the European market.
In China, BYD led the country’s passenger car market with a 12.5% share in 2023, up from 8.8% the previous year, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association.
Contact reporter Ding Yi (yiding@caixin.com) and editor Kelsey Cheng (kelseycheng@caixin.com)
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