BYD Auto, the main automotive subsidiary and brand of BYD Co (a publicly listed Chinese multinational manufacturing company), is celebrating another year of growth in the UK. The company, which officially launched in the UK in March 2023, increased its ‘volume by 658% to over 8,700 cars in 2024’, making it the UK’s ‘fastest growing’ car brand.
In March 2023, BYD UK launched with the ATTO 3 C-segment SUV, and since then has launched four new models in under two years; the Sealion 7 will be joining the line-up in the coming months. The company has grown from 14 retail sites to 60 retailers across the UK, with plans to add more sites in 2025.
Steve Beattie, BYD UK’s sales and marketing director, said: “In the past two years, BYD has gone from strength to strength. BYD aims to bring high-tech and high-value cars to UK customers, and it is fantastic to see more people choosing BYD. Brand awareness continues to grow, with brand recognition increasing from 1% in 2023 to 31% in 2024. A huge contributor to brand growth was the company’s sponsorship of the EURO 2024 football tournament, which reached a global audience of over one billion.”
Mr Beattie added that while BYD passenger cars are relatively new to the UK, the company has a long and successful history here, thanks to its commercial vehicle division. “BYD introduced its first fully electric buses on UK roads in 2014, and now has over 2,000 buses in operation in major cities throughout the country. Furthermore, since 2016 BYD has provided 1.8GWh of battery energy storage to the UK’s national grid.”