Academic Journal of Management and Social Sciences

ISSN: 2958-4396 | Vol. 3, No. 3, 2023

Research on the Current Situation and Strategy of the

Development of BYD New Energy Vehicles in the
European Market
Maohua Kang, Ganglin Chen
School of Foreign Languages, Guangdong Peizheng College, Guangzhou, China

Abstract: The climate crisis hangs over the entire planet, and the present and future survival of mankind is at stake. Therefore,
countries have to speed up the transformation of energy structure to delay and control the process of climate change, and
encourage the comprehensive development of the new energy vehicle industry. Traditional automobile manufacturers have also
joined this new track, hoping to gain a share of the global market of new energy vehicles. In the above context, this thesis takes
BYD new energy vehicles as an example, carrying out PESTEL and 4Ps analysis to analyze the main content of BYD new energy
vehicles in Europe's development strategy and market status. The methods used in this thesis are mainly case analysis, literature
review and data analysis to analyze it. At the same time, some problems are found, such as imperfect supporting facilities,
relatively single sales channels and other problems, and corresponding solutions are proposed for these problems. This thesis
hopes that by studying the status quo and development strategy of BYD new energy vehicles in the European market, it can play
a certain role for reference in its development in the European market.
Keywords: BYD; New Energy Vehicles; Strategy of Development; European Market.

and investment by automakers, which greatly promotes the

1. Introduction development of the new energy vehicle industry. It will
For the sake of clear illustration and brief introduction of become cheaper and more convenient for consumers to buy
this thesis, three aspects will be included in this part. They are, zero-emission new energy vehicles. And this agreement may
respectively, the background of the research, the significance accelerate the business layout of Chinese new energy vehicle
of the research and research methodology. enterprises in the EU market. France, one of the most
developed countries in the European Union, will also push
1.1. Background of the Research hard to achieve its goal of 100% electric vehicles by 2035. In
With the continuous development of economies around the an interview published by Les Echos on October 17, French
world, climate crisis also hangs over the earth along with the President Emmanuel Macron said that France aims to produce
prosperity of globalization, threatening the present and future 2 million electric vehicles a year by 2030. France is sticking
living environment of human beings. The Paris Agreement, to its goal of making 100 percent of its car’s electric by 2035.
signed by 178 parties around the world in 2016, has set out Mr. Macron said France would reach the point of producing
"hard targets" for the world to pursue. According to the one million electric cars a year by 2027. Separately, Mr.
agreement, all parties will strengthen the global response to Macron will increase financial assistance for half of
the threat of climate change, keep the global average households to buy an electric car from €6,000 to €7,000.
temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial As the world's third largest auto company, BYD has
levels, and strive to limit the rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. This naturally accelerated its pace in the European market layout
makes new energy vehicles gradually replace fuel vehicles of new energy vehicles. In July 2022, according to BYD auto
and become the new favorite of the automobile market. Major official WeChat, BYD announced that it would launch several
automobile enterprises have developed new energy vehicles new energy models for the European market in the autumn of
to seize the market. Europe, as the birthplace of traditional this year, including BYD Tang, Han, and Yuan PLUS (locally
automobiles, is naturally the blue ocean market highly valued named BYD ATTO 3). It will be shown at the Paris Motor
by new energy automobile manufacturers. Show in October. According to reports, BYD has reached
In October 2022, the EU's three main bodies -- the cooperation with a number of passenger car dealers in Europe,
European Commission, the European Parliament and a number of offline stores will be opened in autumn, and the
Member States -- reached an agreement that would ban the first vehicles are expected to be delivered in the fourth quarter
production of new fuel cars from 2035. The move, aimed at of this year. In August last year, BYD Tang EV launched in
speeding up the electrification transition and tackling climate Norway and delivered its first car in Oslo, Norway. In July
change, will reshape the EU's transport landscape, marking an this year, Tang EV achieved the highest sales record in
important step on the road to reduce carbon emissions in the Norway's 7-seat SUV market. However, with the increasingly
region. The agreement commits EU carmakers to a zero fierce competition in the industry, how to win in the industry
emissions target by 2035. It also requires the bloc to cut and maintain a long-term development is the problem that
carbon emissions by 55 percent over the next decade and set new energy vehicle companies have to face. Therefore, they
a goal of becoming climate neutral by 2050. Jan Huitema, must be based on the current development status and establish
speaker of the conference, said the agreement clarifies the the right development strategy.
future created by the auto industry and stimulates innovation This thesis studies the development status and strategies of

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BYD's new energy vehicles in the European market, analyzes new energy vehicle market, and the products made by
the external macro-environment, and establishes strategies Chinese new energy vehicle enterprises are trusted by
that can guarantee the development of BYD's new energy domestic and foreign consumers in terms of quality and
vehicles in the European market with strong market quality control. In recent years, the state has continuously
competitiveness, which has a certain guiding role for BYD's introduced policies to subsidize the purchase and sale of new
further development in the European market in the future. energy vehicles, which also makes the export of domestic new
energy vehicles to foreign countries become a general trend.
1.2. Significance of the Research In this context, domestic scholars carry out relevant research.
As one of the rapidly developing industries in recent years, Fu Yurui (2010) concluded the direction that the European
the development of new energy vehicles has attracted the high market of new energy vehicles should pay attention to by
attention of many scholars and experts. In the context of comparing the development experience of foreign countries
climate change and the evolving development of and the advanced policy encouragement mode. Furthermore,
globalization, new energy vehicles have gradually replaced by evaluating auto development conditions and European
fuel vehicles and become the focus of the future development market environment, the thesis deeply analyzed the
and transformation of the global automobile industry. And development prospects of Chinese new energy vehicles in the
China's domestic car enterprises also want to take this European market, and then put forward relevant marketing
opportunity to achieve the curve overtaking, to stand firm in strategies to provide reference for realizing the "leapfrog"
the evolving situation of globalization, and to improve the development of Chinese automobile industry.
domestic new energy vehicle brand influence in the world. Ma Hongyan (2020) analyzed the existing problems of the
Therefore, this thesis takes BYD as an example to study the marketing strategies adopted by BYD's new energy vehicles
status quo and development strategy of BYD in the European in the European market by combining international marketing
market, in order to promote China's new energy vehicles to theories with enterprise international marketing cases, and
better play their own advantages, and more stable foothold in provided suggestions for BYD to expand the sales of new
the European market. energy vehicles in the European market, as well as reference
and experience for Chinese new energy vehicle enterprises to
1.3. Research Methodology occupy the international market. And then it promotes China's
Case analysis. In this thesis, BYD, a typical enterprise of new energy automobile industry "curve overtaking".
automobile new energy, is proposed, and its current situation Wu Jin (2020) analyzed the problems faced by BYD in the
and development strategy in the European market are market competition of new energy vehicles by means of
analyzed. And PESTEL model is used to analyze the macro survey analysis and data analysis, put forward BYD's
environment of BYD's development in the European market, competitive strategy in theory, made contributions to the
the existing problems and suggestions in its development construction of the theoretical system of competitive strategy
strategy in the European market, etc. in the new energy vehicle industry, and formulated
Literature research method. By referring to the university competitive strategy with certain advantages.
library collection database, the official website and Wan Yijuan (2016) took BYD new energy vehicle as the
publications of China Association of Automobile research object, analyzed its brand strategy in the
Manufacturers, and the journals of CNKI, the current international market, and compared the study of Yadi new
situation of new energy vehicles and the status quo of BYD energy vehicle international brand strategy through the case
in the European market can be learned. analysis method and comparative analysis method, which
Data analysis. This thesis summarizes the development played a certain role in the "going out" of Chinese new energy
data of BYD company, combined with key statistical data vehicles.
such as BYD's market share and sales growth rate of new Wang Shanjin and Cheng Yuan (2021) introduced the status
energy vehicles in the European market, to provide data quo and development trend of new energy vehicles in Europe,
support for the research and development of marketing including the European automobile market, carbon emission
strategies for BYD's new energy vehicles in the European regulations of the European Union, new energy promotion
market. policies of European governments, and new energy vehicle
strategies and technological routes of European automobile
2. Literature Review enterprises to clarify the status quo and development trend of
new energy vehicles in Europe.
Few scholars abroad have studied BYD or other domestic
Zhang Yan (2019) mainly studied the macro-operating
car brands’ expansion and development in overseas markets.
environment of three markets in Europe, North America and
On the contrary, many academic theses are basically about the
South America through PEST analysis, and evaluated the
development of China’s domestic new energy vehicle market
effect of international operation through performance analysis.
and the entry of overseas new energy vehicle enterprises into
This study found the successful experience and shortcomings
the Chinese market. In contrast, domestic research on the
of BYD's international operation, and put forward targeted
overseas development of new energy vehicles is more than
suggestions for improvement, which can improve the effect
abroad. In this respect, the information is also relatively
of its international operation. Other Chinese new energy
complete, so it can be referred to. The following content will
vehicle enterprises can learn from BYD's successful
be discussed in detail. Some Chinese scholars have their own
experience and avoid similar deficiencies, and gradually
academic views on BYD’s development, competitiveness and
move toward internationalization and enhance brand
marketing in the European market.
influence. Therefore, this study has important practical
2.1. Researches at Home significance for the international operation of domestic new
energy vehicle enterprises.
Compared with foreign countries, China is vigorously
Zheng Baocheng (2016) analyzed and studied BYD's new
promoting and encouraging the development of the domestic

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energy development strategy for China's automobile industry, the country. In the field of commercial vehicles, BYD electric
which not only has reference significance for other domestic buses have been sold in France, Germany, Hungary, Spain,
new energy automobile enterprises, but also can improve the Finland and other European countries year by year since they
overall level of China's new energy automobile industry and entered the UK market in 2015. BYD also opened Europe's
make China's automobile industry truly become a powerful first electric bus factory in Hungary in 2017. BYD now
country from an automobile country. Furthermore, through accounts for more than half of the electric bus market in the
the rapid development of the new energy automobile industry, UK and 90 per cent in the capital. In early October 2022,
the huge pressure of the rapid expansion of the automobile SIXT, Germany's largest car rental company, announced that
industry on resources, environment and other aspects can be it had signed a long-term agreement with Chinese car brand
solved. BYD. SIXT will purchase 100,000 BYD Atto 3 Series new
energy vehicles by 2028, with thousands of BYD vehicles
2.2. Researches Abroad expected to be delivered in the fourth quarter of this year,
Foreign scholars study the development and trend of according to the company's disclosure. Foreign media said
China's domestic new energy vehicle market in more articles these Chinese-branded new energy vehicles, made in China,
and journals, but rarely touch on the status quo and will soon be put on the car rental market in Germany, France,
development of China's domestic new energy vehicles in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. It's a big deal for
foreign countries. This is also due to the impact of China as a SIXT. SIXT, the largest car rental company in Germany and
large and unsaturated new energy vehicle market. The Europe, currently has around 240,000 vehicles under its
following are some of the foreign research statuses. portfolio. In other words, the BYD deal will increase SIXT's
Christian, T. (2010) et al. studied and compared carbon vehicle quantity by nearly 30 percent.
dioxide emissions from oil wells to wheels, the cost of
General Motors in Europe and the cost of carbon dioxide 3.1. Introduction of the Company of BYD
emission reduction, including gasoline cars, diesel cars, BYD Co., LTD. (hereinafter referred to as "BYD") was
gasoline hybrid, diesel hybrid, plug-in hybrid and pure founded in February 1995, headquartered in Shenzhen,
electric cars. The comparison of projections is a snapshot of Guangdong Province. The company has more than 220,000
carbon reduction for 2010, 2020 and 2030 under Europe's new employees, and its business spans four major industries:
energy policy scenarios. automobile, rail transit, new energy and electronics. It is listed
Fakhrul, H. (2022) et al. mainly focused on the theme of in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, with revenue and market value
"new" and discussed the competitive advantages and exceeding 100 billion yuan. BYD is committed to promoting
challenges of energy vehicles. From the perspective of market the sustainable development of human society with
and traditional vehicles, the thesis analyzes the technological innovation and helping to achieve the goal of
competitiveness of new energy vehicles and the challenges "carbon peak and carbon neutrality". BYD has always
they face. adhered to the development concept of "technology is king,
Giacomo, F. (2021) et al. for the first time conducted a innovation is based". With its research and development
comprehensive bottom-up analysis of the European EV strength and innovative development mode, BYD has
charging network. The thesis displayed a better understanding achieved comprehensive development, and plays a pivotal
of some of the key challenges ahead to ensure mass adoption role in many fields such as batteries, electronics, passenger
of electric vehicles across Europe, thereby it potentially cars, commercial vehicles and rail transit. BYD company's
reduced the environmental impact of the transport sector. main business covers the following module:
Remi, L. (2022) et al. described a method to study the In the automotive field, BYD has mastered the core
technical and economic impact of large-scale EV charging on technologies of battery, motor, electric control and other new
power systems for multiple EV owners by connecting energy vehicles by virtue of its technological research and
behavioral profiles (systematic, when necessary, and when development and innovation strength. At present, BYD's new
convenient) and the range of charging modes available energy vehicles have formed two product series of passenger
(uncontrolled, TOU, intelligent one-way charging, and cars and commercial vehicles, covering seven conventional
vehicle-to-grid). The flexibility of solutions can further areas and four special areas (namely, the "7+4" strategy, in
develop EV needs. which "7" is private car, taxi, urban public transport, road
passenger transport, urban commodity logistics, urban
3. BYD’s New Energy Vehicles construction logistics, sanitation vehicles; "4" is the special
Current Situation in the European vehicle for storage, port, airport and mine), which covers the
Market whole field.
In the field of urban rail transit, BYD spent five years
Three steps that BYD has taken in order to enter Europe: developing a new design of straddle monorail "cloud orbit."
the first step was to sell buses to the European market from Products have received orders from many cities at home and
2013, and set up bus assembly factories in Hungary and abroad. In September 2017, the first "cloud orbit" route was
France. The second step was to test the water in Norway with completed. Officially opened and operated in Yinchuan. The
the old Tang EV from 2021, with a total sale of more than business will cooperate with new energy vehicles to achieve
2,300 vehicles within a year and a price of up to 600,000 the three-dimensional overlay of urban public transport. It is
kroner, which was well received. The third step was to start the strategic direction of BYD's future development.
from the second half of 2022, launching an all-out attack on In the field of new energy vehicles, BYD took the lead in
Europe. The Han, Tang and Yuan dynasties appeared together proposing to replace traditional fuel vehicles with electric
in the European Union. vehicles "bus electric." And in the aspect of financial model,
As early as 1998, BYD established its European together with China Development Bank, BYD launched
headquarters in the Netherlands and contacted dealers around "zero-yuan car purchase, zero cost, zero risk, zero emission

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"solution, providing services for the development strategy of car brand Renault Zoe and the United States car brand Tesla
electric transportation. For now, BYD's new energy vehicles ranked the first and second place. The electric passenger car
such as K9, E6 and Qin have spread all over the world. market in Europe is basically monopolized by European,
In the battery field, BYD has 100% independent research American, Japanese and Korean manufacturers (See Table 2).
and development, design and production capacity. With more
than 20 years of continuous innovation, its products have Table 2. The electric passenger car market in Europe is basically
covered consumer 3C batteries, power batteries (lithium iron monopolized by European, American, Japanese and Korean
phosphate batteries and terpolymer batteries), solar cells, manufacturers
energy storage batteries and other fields, and formed a 1. Renault Zoe 99613
complete battery industry chain. BYD is now the world's
largest manufacturer of lithium-iron phosphate batteries by 2. Tesla Model 3 87642
capacity. In addition to new energy vehicles and rail transit, 3. Volkswagen ID.3 56937
BYD's battery products are widely used in a variety of new
4. Hyundai Kona EV 48537
energy solutions such as solar power stations and energy
storage stations. BYD is the world's leading supplier of solar 5. Audi e-tron 35463
energy and energy storage solutions. Its products have been
6. Volkswagen e-Golf 33659
exported to the United States, Germany, Japan, Switzerland,
Canada, Australia, South Africa and many other countries and 7. Nissan Leaf 31791
regions. Its main customers include State Grid of China, 8. Peugeot 31554
China General Nuclear Power Corporation, Chevron of the
United States, Fenecon of Germany, A-style of Japan, etc. 9. Kia Niro EV 30690
Number of new energy vehicles sold in the European
3.2. Share of BYD’s New Energy Vehicles in market in 2020.
the European Market Data source: European Automobile Industry Association
Market share refers to the proportion of sales of a product (https:// www. acea.be/)
(or category) of an enterprise in the market of similar products
(or category). It largely reflects the competitive position and 4. Analysis of the External
profitability of the enterprise, usually the higher the market Environment of BYD’s New Energy
share, the stronger the competition. The market shares of Vehicles and Current Marketing
major brands of new energy vehicles in the European market
in 2018 are as follows (See Table 1):
Strategy of BYD New Energy
Vehicles in the European Market
Table 1. The market shares of major brands of new energy vehicles
in the European market in 2018
4.1. PESTEL Analysis of the External
Tesla 15% Environment of BYD’s New Energy
Vehicles in the European Market
BMW 10%
In this part, it will analyse the external environment of
Reynolds 8% BYD’s new energy vehicles in the European by PESTEL
Mitsubishi 7% model.
The external environment of the new energy vehicle market
Nissan 6% is determined by many factors. The following will analyze the
Hyundai 6% external environment of BYD's European market from the
perspective of PESTEL (political factors, economic factors,
VW 4%
social factors, technological factors, environmental factors,
Kia 4% legal factors), in order to better formulate and adjust BYD's
Volvo 4% development strategy in the European market.
4.1.1. Political Factors
Mini 4%
The European Union has greatly enhanced its political
BYD 2% support for new energy vehicles, and the core point is to
Others 31%
further strengthen the constraints, penalties and incentives.
First, the carbon emission standard for vehicles will be
Data source: European Automobile Industry Association significantly raised in 2020 from 130g/km in 2015-2019 to
(https:// www. acea.be/) 95g/km in 2020-2025. Enterprises that fail to meet the
3.3. Overview of the Competitive Situation standard will be required to pay a fine; In June 2022, the
European Union advanced the date of zero emission from cars
As a mature and open automobile market, Europe gathers from 2050 to 2035 (i.e., the vehicle CO2 emission will be
the major developed countries such as Europe, America, 0g/km in 2035). At the same time, the plan to stop selling all
Japan and South Korea Automobile enterprises. At present, fuel vehicles by 2030 is proposed to accelerate the
the European new energy vehicle market is not only transformation of traditional car enterprises to electrification.
competitive from the transformation of traditional automobile Second, for the purchase and use of new energy vehicles to
enterprises, but also there is competition from new forces of implement the EU and national level of double subsidies, the
new-energy car making. highest car subsidies can reach 7,000 to 10,000 euros; there
As shown in the following data, in the sales list of electric are also tax deductions or deductions, including purchase tax,
passenger models in Europe in 2020, the traditional European ownership tax, company car deduction, environmental

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protection tax, etc. Take Germany as an example, subsidies Table 5. Top 5: countries with the HIGHEST electric car share in
for pure electric vehicles (BEVs): 6,000 euros if the price is the EU + GDP
less than 40,000 euros, 5,000 euros if the price is more than 1.Sweden 32.2% – €45,610
40,000 euros; For plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs): 2.Netherlands 25.0% – €45,790
4,500 euros under 40,000 euros and 3,000 euros above 40,000
euros. The subsidy will run from June 2020 to the end of 2022, 3.Finland 18.1% – €42,940
after which more stringent requirements are planned for 4.Denmark 16.4% – €53,470
vehicles eligible for support.
Third, the European Union has stipulated that starting from 5.Germany 13.5% – €40,070
2026, road traffic carbon emissions will be included in the Data source: European Automobile Industry Association (https://
carbon emissions trading market, setting a price for its www. acea.be/)
pollution and creating a level playing field for new energy 4.1.3. Social Factors
vehicles. The slow installation of public charging piles in EU
4.1.2. Economic Factors countries leads to a serious shortage of public charging piles
Like this map manifesting, market uptake of electric in the EU.
vehicles is directly related to a country's national income Brussels, June 22, 2022 - New analysis of data from the
(GDP per capital), showing that affordability remains a major European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA)
barrier for EU consumers (See Table 3). shows that half of all electric vehicle charging points in the
EU are concentrated in just two countries - the Netherlands
Table 3. Gross domestic product (GDP) per capital.By country, (90,000 chargers) and Germany (60,000). These two
2020 countries cover less than 10% of the surface area of the entire
European Union. The other half of the chargers are in the
remaining 25 countries, covering 90 percent of the region's
surface area. It urged EU member states to increase
investment in electric vehicle infrastructure as soon as
possible (See Table 6).

Table 6. Market share of electrically-chargeable cars.By country,

2020

Data source: European Automobile Industry Association (https://

www.acea.be/)

Across the EU, 10.5 per cent of all new cars registered in
2020 were electric vehicles (ECVs). However, the ECV
market share in 10 EU member states remains below 3%.
Countries with less than 3 per cent of the ECV market have a
per capita gross domestic product (GDP) of less than €17,000,
Data source: European Automobile Industry Association (https://
including new members of the European Union in central and www.acea.be/)
Eastern Europe, as well as Greece. In rich countries with an
average GDP of more than €46,000, electric vehicles account 4.1.4. Technological Factors
for just over 15% of total car sales. Seventy-three per cent of Different from traditional fuel vehicles, new energy
global electric car sales are concentrated in the four Western vehicles have not been in contact with joint venture brands
European countries with the highest GDP. Cyprus, on the and independent brands for a long time, so the technology is
other hand, sold just 42 electric vehicles in 2020 (a market not mature, and the vehicle endurance is very short, slow
share of 0.5%). There is a clear division between central and charging and other problems urgently need to be solved. The
Western Europe on the affordability of ECVs, and a north- core technologies of new energy vehicles are: motor,
electronic control system and battery. In terms of battery
south divide is evident across the continent （See Table 4 and
technology, most of the OEMs (Original Equipment
Table 5）. Manufacturers) of self-owned brands do not have the ability
to design their own cells and battery packs at present, and
Table 4. Top 5: countries with the LOWEST electric car share in
most of them assemble through procurement. For sure,
the EU + GDP
multinational companies do not have their own cells, but they
1.Cyprus 0.5% – €23,580 do have the ability to produce battery components and
2.Lithuania 1.1% – €17,460 management systems, which enhances their core
competitiveness in batteries. At present, the degree of
3.Estonia 1.8 % – €20,440
autonomy in the field of motor and electric control is not high
4.Croatia 1.9% – €12,130 in Europe. Only few has the core components of electric
5.Poland 1.9% – €13,600 control. And BYD is one of them.
Data source: European Automobile Industry Association (https:// 4.1.5. Environmental Factors
www. acea.be/) The main reason for banning fuel cars is low-carbon
development. Climate change caused by carbon emissions has
become a big problem threatening the survival of all mankind.

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In order to address climate change, the United Nations heat management systems, intelligent distribution
established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change management systems and public transport IT systems that
(IPCC) in 1988 and has held 26 conferences on climate comply with European IT×TP standards, continuous
change since 1997. The Paris Agreement signed at the Paris breakthrough in vehicle performance and safety, through
Climate Conference in 2015, as a legally binding climate several large orders and customer reputation in Europe brand
agreement, is of great significance to the global response to effect has been basically established in the bus market. For
climate change. In this regard, the EU has been presenting BYD, however, the bigger challenge is to continue to explore
itself as the leader. The EU has long pursued green and low- a larger market.
carbon development, and low-carbon, zero-carbon and 4.2.2. Price Strategy
negative carbon have become the main ideas of economic and In a marketing mix, only price reflects revenue; the other
social development. factors reflect only cost. Therefore, the price is an important
4.1.6. Legal Factors factor affecting the economic benefit of enterprises. If an
On June 29, 2022, at the meeting of the Ministers of enterprise wants to get good economic benefits, it must take
Environment of the EU member states, the ministers of the 27 all kinds of factors affecting the product into account, at the
member states voted through the resolution after 16 hours of same time, combine the product characteristics and market
hard negotiations, supporting the motion of the European competition situation to make the appropriate product price.
Parliament, and decided to stop the sale of new fuel cars in Due to the high per capital income level in Europe, low
the whole EU in 2035. Among EU countries, France will ban sensitivity of consumers to price, and the proportion of
the sale of new fuel cars in 2040; Ireland, Denmark, Sweden medium and high-end new-energy vehicles in the European
and other countries will ban the sale of new fuel cars in 2030; market as high as 65%, BYD mainly adopts the skimming
the Netherlands, the most radical country, will ban the sale of pricing strategy in the European market, relying on its pure
new fuel cars in 2025; Norway, also a non-EU country, will electric bus to obtain the European Union vehicle certification
also ban the sale of fuel cars in 2030. and its unique advantages in the three electric core
technologies of new energy vehicles. In the field of new
4.2. Current Marketing Strategy of BYD New energy vehicles to establish a higher product price, to create
Energy Vehicles in the European Market high quality and high price product image. Take K9 pure
on 4Ps Theory electric bus as an example. The price of this model in the
In this part, it will analyse the current marketing strategy of European market is as high as RMB 4 million, far higher than
BYD new energy vehicles in the European market by the the market price of similar products. In addition, BYD's new
model of 4Ps (See Table 7). And the result of analysis will energy automobile industry chain covers the upper, middle
support the opinion posted by the suggestion part. and lower reaches, which can obtain high profits under the
advantage of controllable cost.
Table 7. The model of 4Ps 4.2.3. Place Strategy
Marketing channels take producers as the starting point and
consumers as the ending point. A series of independent
organizations set up by producers such as sales agencies,
intermediaries, agents, wholesalers and retailers cooperate
with each other, so that products or services can be used or
consumed smoothly. Products through channels can realize
rapid circulation in the market, accelerate the information
exchange between producers and consumers, so as to improve
the transaction efficiency, and reduce the transaction costs and
market risks of manufacturers.
BYD sells directly in Europe. This is because BYD mainly
4.2.1. Product Strategy
sells commercial vehicles in the European market. Its
Product strategy refers to the enterprise's own product type,
customers are not final consumers, but public transport
product line, new product development, brand design,
operators such as bus companies, taxi companies and
package design and other aspects targeted to develop
government institutions. Besides, BYD has its own wholly-
strategies and effective use, a series of measures in order to
owned factory in Europe, which specializes in the production
achieve marketing goals.
of new energy vehicles by receiving orders from customers
BYD's new energy vehicle products are mainly divided into
and directly delivering them to customers. As for other
two categories: passenger cars and commercial vehicles. The
marketing channels, such as dealer channels and online
major car companies will target when aiming at the passenger
channels, BYD has not yet formed in the European market.
car market. BYD chose the commercial vehicle sector as the
breakthrough to enter the European market. Yadi is mainly 4.2.4. Promotion Strategy
engaged in electric buses and electric taxis in the European Promotion strategy refers to the enterprise's product
market, as well as electric forklifts involved. Product line promotion through TV, media, trade fairs, Internet and other
covers 8.7 meters, 12 meters, 18 meters e-bus pure electric media in order to stimulate the enthusiasm of consumers to
bus, e6 pure electric taxi. Electric balancing forklifts and purchase products. The promotion strategy has less
electric pallet trucks, as well as BYD, which is jointly built investment, quick effect and good effect, and has the largest
by BYD and its partner ADL Enviro200EV and BYD ADL number of modes and the highest frequency of use in
Enviro400EV. enterprise marketing activities. The rational use of promotion
BYD has equipped the all-electric buses with advanced strategy will greatly promote the development of enterprise
intelligent monitoring and diagnosis systems, power battery business.

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 In order to increase its brand awareness and sales in the promotion strategy, the promotion method is single. At
European market, BYD promotes its products by present, the enterprise has various promotion forms, including
participating in professional exhibitions. Since BYD entered personnel promotion, advertising promotion, exhibition
the European market, it has participated in IAA Exhibition in promotion, public relations, Internet promotion and so on.
Hannover, Germany, UITP International Public Transport However, BYD only adopts the way of exhibition promotion
Exhibition, World Bus Expo, etc., in order to introduce new and word-of-mouth publicity. Compared with other
products and technologies. Moreover, rather than selling enterprises, the promotion way is too simple, which is not
directly to customers, BYD first lets customers try the cars for conducive to enhancing the visibility of the enterprise. In
free for a period of several months, using the intuitive driving addition, although the exhibition covers customers in most
experience to promote word-of-mouth. regions of Europe, the establishment of cooperative
relationship with customers through the exhibition has a
5. Deficiencies of BYD in European certain degree of contingency, what's more, some customers
Marketing Strategy and Suggestions do not have the habit of participating in the exhibition, but
for Improvement look for suppliers by other means. This way of waiting for
customer inquiry in the form of "sitting in the business" is too
5.1. Deficiencies of BYD in European passive. For the huge potential of the European new energy
Marketing Strategy vehicle market, just rely on these two marketing methods
have great limitations, will undoubtedly lose a large part of
Based on the above analysis, it can be found that there are customers.
some deficiencies in BYD's development strategy in the
European market. First of all, although electric buses have a 5.2. Suggestions for Improvement
high market share in the UK, the market share of new energy Combined with the above problems and the above analysis,
vehicles in the whole Europe is very low. According to here come suggestions for BYD’s strategy in Europe. First of
relevant data, the market share of 2% in 2018 is far behind all, the problem of small market share and low brand
other well-known brands. Second of all, BYD will not fully awareness. Combined with the serious shortage of
enter the European market until 2022, so its brand awareness infrastructure for new energy vehicles in Europe, BYD can
in the European market is far from enough. Third of all, take advantage of this shortcoming to solve the problem of
existing competitors and potential competitors are all low brand awareness, so as to achieve drainage and gradually
competing for market share. In this case, BYD, as a latecomer, increase the market share. In particular, BYD can build
is far less competitive than new energy automobile charging posts for free in areas where they are scarce, and
manufacturers that have already made strategic deployment negotiate with local governments to mark the posts with some
in the European market. Fourth of all, BYD also has many BYD information to raise brand awareness in those areas. In
problems with its marketing strategy. In terms of product addition, BYD will be fully responsible for the maintenance
strategy, BYD's product strategy in the European market is of charging piles free of charge for a certain number of years,
relatively simple before 2022, with only three models: bus, and the maintenance fee will be half funded by the local
forklift and MPV. Fifth of all, in terms of pricing strategy, government. In this way, a charging pile network can be
BYD adopts a skimming pricing strategy in the European established locally, which also occupies a place in this field
market. Although this pricing strategy can obtain high profits, and enhances the brand competitiveness to some extent.
it also has certain disadvantages. Since the pricing does not Secondly, in terms of marketing strategy, BYD announced its
take the interests of customers and market competitors into official full entry into the European market in September 2022,
account, this pricing method is not conducive to the and withdrew a variety of models in Europe, which broke the
occupation and stability of the market, and will hinder the previous single problem of combination to a certain extent. In
improvement of market share. Sixth of all, in terms of sales terms of price strategy, BYD focuses on medium and high-
channel strategy, the main problem of BYD's channels lies in end car brands, so the price will not be low naturally. However,
the lack of quantity and quality of channels and the lack of on this basis, BYD can provide cars with different prices but
overseas marketing network. In the highly competitive different performance configurations, so as to cover more
European market, most new energy vehicle manufacturers, by customers to a greater extent. In terms of sales channels, BYD
integrating existing marketing channels and sharing dealer can play a combination of various ways and strengthen its
networks with traditional vehicles, can not only make good efforts to explore the potential of the online channel. The
publicity for new energy vehicles through traditional online channel has developed into an important channel in the
automobile channels, but also greatly reduce the cost of European market. Compared with other channels, the online
expanding new channels. For BYD, traditional cars are channel can avoid layers of exploitation of the interests of
mostly exported to Asia, Africa and Latin America and other dealers, provide customers with affordable prices, and adapt
less developed regions, while new energy vehicles are to the habits of the majority of consumers. In terms of
targeted at developed countries in Europe and the United promotion strategies, it should strengthen advertising and
States. Especially in the face of the brand-new market in promotion, exhibitions, and connect with local network
Europe, BYD's channel laying is basically starting from bloggers, so as to enhance brand awareness and promotion
scratch. In addition, in terms of online channels, BYD failed ability.
to take advantage of social networking platforms such as
Facebook and Twitter, which are common in various 6. Conclusion
countries. Chery, on the other hand, can book a car it likes on
its website and then go to an official dealer and buy it at a In recent years, the development momentum of new energy
discount. A weak marketing channel could hamper BYD's vehicles is rapid. With the strong support of countries around
push into passenger cars in Europe. Seventh of all, in terms of the world, new energy vehicles have entered the fast lane of
development, and there is still a huge space for development

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in the future. New energy vehicles will become the direction development strategies and improving marketing ability, they
of the development of the automobile industry in the future. will gradually occupy overseas market shares, and truly
In this context, this thesis takes BYD, the pioneer of China's realize the goal of "overtaking on a curve" in China's new
new energy vehicle industry, as the research object. By energy automobile industry. Limited in the author’s
analyzing the status quo of BYD in the European market and knowledge level, limited time and other reasons, this thesis
its marketing strategy, this thesis puts forward the problems may not be very in-depth in the international BYD new
in the development strategy, and puts forward corresponding energy vehicles strategy analysis. Above all, this study
suggestions to solve the problems, so as to optimize the provides some references for future studies.
development strategy of BYD in the European market. As one
of the world's leading manufacturers of new energy vehicles, References
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