Exclusive: China EV giant BYD reboots Europe operations after strategic stumbles, sources say

Nick Carey - Reuters - 08:17
China's leading EV maker BYD is overhauling its European operations after strategic missteps including failures to sign up enough dealers and hire executives with local-market knowledge and to offer hybrids in markets resistant to fully electric vehicles, six current and former BYD executives said.
  • China's EV leader expanded to Europe with high expectations but saw slow initial sales
  • BYD sources said company was slow to offer hybrids, expand dealer network
  • BYD has moved swiftly to address problems, hire European execs with local-market knowledge
MILAN/SHANGHAI, April 23 (Reuters) - China's leading EV maker BYD is overhauling its European operations after strategic missteps including failures to sign up enough dealers and hire executives with local-market knowledge and to offer hybrids in markets resistant to fully electric vehicles, six current and former BYD executives said.
BYD (002594.SZ), opens new tab has moved swiftly to address these early stumbles in this critical export market, greatly expanding its dealer network and offering hefty pay packages to poach executives from European automakers, especially Stellantis (STLAM.MI), opens new tab, the executives said.

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The Chinese EV leader announced in December that plug-in hybrids would be crucial to its European strategy. That decision came after BYD European special adviser Alfredo Altavilla - among the key executives hired in BYD's European reboot - advised BYD Founder and Chairman Wang Chuanfu that a pure EV strategy was still a hard sell in many European countries.
"He was very quick to get the message and give the input to BYD's engineers that every new model would have to come both in EV and hybrid" versions for Europe, Altavilla told Reuters. "It is necessary to educate customers in the green transition."
Hires of some individual European executives have been reported, and BYD has publicly acknowledged problems in the German market. This is the first detailed account of the problems identified by executives inside BYD and its systematic efforts to address them. Most of the executives spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive strategic issues.
BYD declined to comment.
In December, Altavilla announced in Italy that plug-in hybrids would be "at the core of BYD strategy in Europe" moving forward, adding it would be "stupid" to go against consumer preferences by offering only EVs.
BYD first approached Altavilla, a former Fiat-Chrysler executive, last June...
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