BYD (OTCMKTS: BYDDY, HKG: 1211), China’s largest new energy vehicle (NEV) maker, has officially ditched fuel vehicles altogether.
In line with its strategic development needs, BYD has stopped production of fuel vehicles since March 2022, the company said in an announcement on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange today.
In the automotive section, BYD will focus on pure electric and plug-in hybrid vehicle businesses in the future, it said.
Notably, BYD will continue the production and supply of fuel vehicle parts and components, and provide existing fuel vehicle customers with ongoing service and after-sales guarantees, as well as full life-cycle parts and components supply, it said.
BYD‘s sales of NEVs in March were 104,878 units, up 333.06 percent year-on-year, the announcement showed.
The company had zero fuel vehicle sales and production in March, according to the announcement.
In June last year, local media reported that BYD’s planning for future fuel vehicles had been halted.
“By 2022 at the earliest, BYD will completely stop producing pure fuel vehicles,” these reports said.
Whether it’s styling technology, or core NEV technologies such as batteries, motors and electric controls, as well as intelligent technologies such as intelligent networking and intelligent cockpits, China’s local EVs are already ahead of joint venture brands, BYD chairman and president Wang Chuanfu said in June last year.
He said that from the perspective of domestic and foreign environment and resources, the general trend of NEVs replacing fuel vehicles is already set.
Wang expected there will be a long transition phase in the development of the NEV market, from plug-in hybrids to pure electric vehicles.
This article was first published by Phate Zhang on CnEVPost, a website focusing on new energy vehicle news from China.
