BYD bosses look to import £8000 city car as Chinese brand continues UK expansion
MARK TISSHAW
B YD’s UK bosses are keen for the Chinese company to offer the low-cost Seagull electric hatchback to British buyers.
No decision has yet been taken, but if the 3.8-metre-long Seagull were to come to the UK, it would most likely be the cheapest electric car on the market. Currently that title is held by the £14,995 Dacia Spring.
In China, the Seagull costs from the equivalent of £8000 – a price at which BYD is understood to make it profitably while still offering a range close to 200 miles.
BYD UK marketing boss Mark Blundell said he is “keen to have it”, adding that there’s a clear space below the Dolphin family hatchback in the range. In fact, the Seagull is sold as the Dolphin Mini in some markets.
Blundell said it is BYD’s strategy to “make electric cars accessible to all” and that keen pricing is part of that.
“EVs shouldn’t just be for well-off people,” he said. “[We need to] have affordable EVs in the range, not just £50k, £60k, £70k ones.”
A year on from its UK launch, BYD hasn’t set any targets for sales or growth here, but the firm – which sold more electric cars than any other car maker globally last year – is well backed, well funded and ambitious, and growth akin to that achieved by MG in the UK is conceivable over the next few years.
Blundell said he would like in the medium term to see BYD “established as a credible brand, with an established infrastructure and dealer network and to be part of the landscape” in the UK. “We need coverage in key markets and robust aftersales,” he added.
BYD plans to have 60 dealers in the UK by the summer, up from 21 today, giving it good geographic coverage across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Blundell was the first staff member in the UK on BYD’s car side. Now the firm has around 40 employees and will be adding around 100 more in the next few months.
BYD operates a wholesale retail model and keeps a good stock of cars to be able to get them to buyers quickly; Blundell quoted a typical two-week lead time after orders.
Part of BYD’s ability to keep costs so low is by producing so many parts in-house and owning so much of its logistics and supply chain. One example given by Blundell is that the firm has recently commissioned its own cargo ship that holds 7000 cars.
“We control what we can control,” he said.
