Can BYD drive electric vehicles in South Africa forward?

After entering the South African vehicle market very quietly in 2023, China’s Build Your Dreams (BYD) has made a splash this year.

BYD was the second best-selling electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer worldwide in 2023 — behind Tesla — selling over 3 million units. The company had sold over 9 million new-energy vehicles in total as of September 2024. New-energy vehicles include EVs, plug-in hybrids and traditional hybrid vehicles. 

With no sign of Tesla anywhere near the South African market, BYD has taken the opportunity to push local consumers towards EVs by making them more affordable.

When the company launched in the country last year, it released the Atto 3 at R768 000, making it one of the more affordable EVs on the local market. In 2024, BYD released the Dolphin at R539 900, the cheapest EV in South Africa. 

The manufacturer seemed to have adopted the same model as Chinese counterparts GWM and Chery, which turned heads in 2021 with cars like the Jolion and Tiggo 4 Pro, giving South African consumers luxury cars at affordable prices. 

This has led to the two consistently being among South Africa’s top-selling car brands, with Haval placing eighth in 2023, above Kia and Renault. 

BYD South Africa general manager Steve Chang says he understands that local consumers are looking to get “bang for their buck” and his company is doing all it can to give it to them.

“What we are trying to do is get an EV here that costs between R300 000 and R350 000. That is where we need to go with the South African consumers,” Chang said. 

“With the BYD Seal [the company’s newest model in South Africa], the communication that we got from China was to start retailing close to R1.4 million. After much back and forth, we decided to forego profits on the car to get that price under R1 million.”

Chang said the import tax on light vehicles in South Africa — currently at 25% — does not help brands on pricing. However, consumer confidence in EVs, or new-energy vehicles, in South Africa had grown in 2024, with over 3 000 being sold in the first quarter alone compared with just over 7 000 in the whole of 2023. 

While traditional hybrid vehicles are the biggest sellers, with over 2 500 units sold in the first quarter of 2024, the growth of plug-in hybrids increased five times in those three months, compared with the same period in 2023. 

EVs are still the lowest-sellers among new-energy vehicles, with just 330 sold in the first quarter of 2024. 

Charging stations here are still not as freely accessible in South Africa as they are in Europe, the US and China. Chang attributed this to the fact that not enough EV’s are being sold.

“We get calls from companies like Rubicon [which runs charging stations] to find out how we are doing, because there’s simply not enough EVs selling in the country,” he said.

BYD is planning to bring in two plug-in hybrid vehicles by the end of the first quarter of 2025 in a bid to boost its footprint in South Africa. 

It also plans to expand from five local dealerships to 25 by the end of next year.