BYD launches Atto 3, enters the mainstream Indian Passenger EV segment

Atto 3, by BYD, a Waren-Buffet funded Chinese EV manufacturer, has been launched in India on Tuesday. This marks the company's entry into the mainstream market as part of a bigger worldwide expansion.

BYD, a Chinese electric manufacturer funded by Warren Buffet, will debut its first passenger car in India on Tuesday, an electric sport-utility vehicle (SUV), marking its entry into the mainstream market as part of a bigger worldwide expansion.

BYD, which currently sells electric buses and EVs to corporate fleets in India, will introduce its Atto 3 electric SUV in the world's fourth-largest automotive market, where domestic automaker Tata Motors dominates electric car sales.

The move is part of a larger worldwide drive by the Chinese automaker, which has already begun selling electric cars and plug-in hybrids in markets like as Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, Brazil, Costa Rica, and Colombia.

BYD announced earlier this year that it would begin selling passenger EVs in Japan in 2023, and that it aims to open a facility in Thailand, the 30th in the United States, Brazil, and India, to make 150,000 cars per year beginning in 2024. On Monday, it unveiled the Atto 3 electric SUV in Thailand.

BYD's entry into India also comes at a time when the South Asian government continues to scrutinise investments from neighbouring countries, notably China.

Strict limitations on such inbound investments pushed Chinese automaker Great Wall Motor to abandon plans to invest $1 billion in India earlier this year after failing to gain regulatory permits.

According to a person familiar with the company's plans, BYD already has a manufacturing factory in the country and would not need to make fresh expenditures to build and sell the Atto 3.

The Shenzhen-based car and battery manufacturer, which includes Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway as an investor, entered India in 2007 and began producing batteries and components for mobile phone makers at a plant near Chennai in the southern metropolis of Tamil Nadu. It began constructing buses in the country in 2013 with a local Indian partner, and in 2021 it will sell its e6 EV to corporate fleet operators and owners.

BYD's southern India plant, where the Atto 3 will be assembled, has a capacity of 10,000 units per year.

BYD will introduce its first passenger EV in India as part of a global effort.