The location of BYD’s new London showroom is strategic. Located in the heart of Mayfair, one of the most exclusive districts of the British capital, the Chinese manufacturer’s store is next to a Rolls-Royce dealership and a Land Rover brand. Inside, four models are displayed in a space with walls covered in screens showing images of the underwater world. There is notably an electric blue Dolphin, a model with a range of 426 kilometers and which has started to appear on the roads across the Channel.
The UK has become a fertile ground for Chinese electric vehicle brands. Great Wall Motors, which made a failed foray in 2012 with an electric pickup truck, was the first to set up shop, launching its Ora model on the British market in 2022. It was followed by SAIC, which put a crossover on sale the same year, and BYD in 2023. This summer, Chery Group also entered the country. Xpeng and Nio, meanwhile, plan to set up shop in 2025.
Peter Wells, director of Cardiff University’s Automotive Industry Research Centre, notes “a real effervescence” around these vehicles. BYD, which is neck and neck with the American Tesla to dominate sales of electric cars on a global scale, is multiplying the openings of showrooms and agreements with dealers. Chinese brands now represent 10% of new registrations of “wattages” in the United Kingdom, against 3% to 4% five years ago, according to the Department for Transport.
“Binding objectives”
The British market stands out for its openness to Chinese automobile groups. Keen to protect its national industry against competition from China, the United States introduced a 102.5% import tax on electric cars from that country in May. The European Union followed suit in July, adopting a tax ranging from 27.4% to 47.6%. No longer obliged, since Brexit, to comply with European decisions, the British Secretary of State for Business and Trade, Jonathan Reynolds, on the contrary promised this summer that he would not launch an investigation into the practices of Chinese electric vehicle producers.
London is indeed afraid of arousing the ire of Beijing, jeopardizing its access to the Chinese market, crucial for its own automobile industry, notably the Rolls-Royce, Jaguar and Bentley groups, which achieve a growing share of their sales in China. “The UK government has also set binding targets for electric vehicle salesunderlines Peter Wells. To achieve this, it needs to maximize the number of “green” cars made available to consumers, particularly those that are affordable.”
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