Two of the largest new energy vehicle manufacturers from China and the U.S. are heading towards the same destination-India-for a new round of competition.
On Friday, Reuters quoted three knowledgeable sources saying that BYD, in collaboration with Indian infrastructure giant Megha, has submitted a $1 billion investment plan to regulators. The plan is to establish a joint venture for producing electric vehicles and batteries in India.
If the rumor is confirmed, this will be BYD's second factory in India.
The Reuters report didn't reveal specific details about BYD's factory construction. However, informed sources indicated that BYD's long-term plan is to produce a full range of vehicles in India, from hatchbacks to luxury cars. In the coming years, BYD might produce 100,000 electric vehicles per year in India. In the early stages, they may not be able to accomplish localized production, thus requiring the import of components for assembly in India.
The insiders also mentioned that the investment plan includes establishing charging stations, research and development, and training centers in India by BYD and Megha.
Just yesterday afternoon, Indian media had just released rumors about Tesla building a factory in India.
After lengthy negotiations, the largest U.S. electric vehicle company has possibly decided to build a factory in India. The planned Tesla India car factory is expected to produce 500,000 electric vehicles per year, and the starting price for the Indian version of Tesla could be 2 million rupees (about 174,600 yuan). This suggests that Tesla might produce the yet-to-be-released economical Model 2 in India.
One day later, China's largest electric vehicle company, BYD, was also revealed to be planning to build its second factory in India. This makes India, the world's third-largest auto market, an increasingly intense battleground.
It's worth noting that BYD has been cultivating the Indian market for much longer than Tesla.
Since BYD established its branch in India in 2007, it has been active in India for 16 years. BYD has already invested approximately $200 million in India, selling Yuan Plus and E6 models, and owns a car assembly factory in the southern city of Chennai.
The rumored partner for this project, Megha, is an old ally of BYD. This infrastructure behemoth formed a joint venture company, Olectra-BYD, with BYD as early as 2018 to produce electric buses in India.
