BYD Co. introduced its Dolphin electric car to Japan, betting that the compact hatch will help spearhead sales in a market that remains hesitant to embrace Chinese automakers or EVs.
The Dolphin will start from ¥3.63 million ($24,560), BYD Auto Japan Co. announced Wednesday at a launch event in Tokyo. The base model has a 70 kilowatt hour battery offering 400 kilometers (250 miles) of range. The extended-range model is priced at ¥4 million, with the 150 kWh battery giving 476 kilometers per charge.
While BYD is China’s biggest carmaker and a frontrunner in the global industry’s rapid transition to EVs, it has made little headway in Japan, where people prefer to purchase cars from domestic powerhouses Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. Imported cars, mostly luxury models from the likes of BMW AG and Volkswagen AG’s Porsche division, account for just 6% of the market, according to Bloomberg Intelligence senior auto analyst Tatsuo Yoshida.
BYD has delivered only about 700 of its Atto 3 electric sport-utility vehicles in the country since sales started in January. The SUV is priced from ¥4.4 million, but has struggled to compete with Nissan’s electric Leaf, which starts from around ¥4.1 million. Nissan’s mini Sakura, priced at just over ¥2.5 million, is Japan’s top-selling EV.
In Japan, hybrids also remain far more popular than pure battery electric vehicles, with market leader Toyota notoriously slow to shift to EVs.
BYD plans to open 100 dealerships and showrooms by 2025 in Japan, and aims to launch its Seal sedan in the country early next year.
Pushing into Japan — the world’s third-largest auto market — also gives BYD a new growth opportunity as Chinese carmakers face increasing hostility in Europe and the US.
Last week, the European Union launched an investigation into Chinese subsidies for EVs in an attempt to ward off cheap imports that threaten the future of the bloc’s own automakers. And while BYD has pushed into Southeast Asia, South America and Australia, it has stayed out of the US, where President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act doles out tax credits of as much as $7,500 toward consumer purchases of EVs — but only if they’re manufactured in North America.
“This is a chance for BYD to capitalize on an untapped, niche market,” said Takeshi Miyao, an analyst at automotive consultancy Carnorama. The Dolphin should sell well in Japan because the quality of BYD’s cars has been steadily improving, and Japanese customers aren’t as biased against Chinese products as they used to be, he said.
In Japan, the Dolphin will use the CHAdeMO charging system developed in 2010 by five companies including Toyota and Tokyo Electric Power Co. Vehicles fitted for this charger have become a minority, with the charging systems of BYD and Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc. now the de-facto standard in major markets.