Global EV giant BYD to hit Bangladesh market in March

The electric vehicle (EV) revolution is about to hit the streets of Bangladesh as BYD, a global EV giant based in Shenzhen, is set to debut its first car in Bangladesh in March next year, according to sources at BYD's distributor CG-Runner Bangladesh Ltd.

BYD Seal is going to be the first model to hit the roads. As a premium EV sedan, it will compete in the above-crore taka segment, said CG-Runner officials.

Having fully charged in 40 minutes with the fast charger, the car will run up to 540 kilometres while regular home charging would take six to seven hours for a full charge.

The distributor company, CG-Runner Bangladesh, is a joint venture between Nepal's top conglomerate Chowdhury Group and the local Runner Group that pioneered two-wheeler and three-wheeler manufacturing in Bangladesh.

Runner Group remained tight-lipped when The Business Standard reached out for comment on their upcoming EV endeavour, keeping the details under wraps for now.

Multiple sources within the group have confirmed that the distributorship agreement for BYD is finalised, and recruitment for the Bangladeshi operation is complete. Training for technicians and managers is now actively underway, preparing the team for the upcoming launch.

The Haque Building in Dhaka's Tejgaon, once home to Runner's prominent showroom, is preparing for a dynamic shift and will soon welcome BYD's first Dhaka showroom, while a cutting-edge service centre readies itself nearby.

An official of the company told TBS that starting with the premium electric sedan BYD Seal, the company would gradually add more affordable car models in line with the mass market preparedness.

Chinese automaker BYD, which already raised Western eyebrows by competing with the world's EV pioneer Tesla in terms of quarterly production, tends to eye leadership in markets across the world in the first three years of its entry.

BYD's third-quarter battery electric vehicle sales have tied with Tesla's, reaching 17% of the global BEV market. The company is expected to overtake the US automaker in the fourth quarter to become the global leader, a report by market research organisation Counterpoint Research showed.

In recent years, BYD has expanded its overseas passenger car business to more than 50 countries and regions such as Australia, Singapore, Thailand, Japan and Brazil.

According to Counterpoint Research, China is the world's largest market for EVs. In the third quarter, domestic sales grew by 11% year-on-year, while exports showed a four-fold increase.

China's automobile exports in the first half of the year exceeded Japan's and jumped to the top of the world. China has become the world's largest vehicle producer, consumer and exporter, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Bangladesh eyes EV evolution

The Bangladesh market was extremely lagging in terms of EV adoption, mainly due to delayed policy-making, until a year ago when the registration of electric vehicles became possible in the country.

The Electric Motor Vehicle Registration and Operation Guideline 2023 aims to ensure that 30% of vehicles are electric by 2030 prescribing supportive taxation and tariffs. To a small extent, EVs are enjoying some benefits, compared to their gasoline-run counterparts.

For instance, importing a car having up to 1,600 cc gasoline engine is subject to over 125% total tax and duties, while that is 89% for an electric car.

Having registration opened, a handful of EV units manufactured by global giants were imported this year. In the second half of this year, brands like Audi and BMW launched their EVs here.

However, the total EV registration was yet to cross 100 this year. Any dedicated global EV brand is yet to be present in the market.

Local EV startup Palki Motors had a few units of its homegrown EV model manufactured in Bangladesh. 

Bangladesh Auto Industries, another homegrown company is preparing big for manufacturing and popularising EVs in the market.