THERE appears to be no stopping BYD – which is excellent news for leasing brokers.
The car side is blazing ahead, taking over 2% of the new car market in May, but now the Chinese brand is looking to start selling its range of LCVs later this year, according to a report in trade publication Auto Sunday.
Auto Sunday reports that BYD will operate its commercial vehicle retail network as a separate franchise to the car operations, although those existing car retailers will be offered first opportunity on the LCV franchise, as long as it’s on a separate site to the cars.
BYD currently has 74 car sites and is aiming to have 120 by the end of 2025, but there is no indication of how many CV retailers it wants.
Last year at the Hannover IAA show BYD showed a range of electric vans and trucks it wanted to bring to Europe. These included the all-electric E-Vali van (main picture), a Ford E-Transit competitor.
BYD says the E-Vali can be fast charged from 10%-80% in around 30 minutes. It is also equipped with V2L (Vehicle to Load), so external devices can easily be powered by the vehicle battery. Its cargo volume extends to 17.9 cubic metres for 4.25t model, with an equally impressive payload of 1,450kg. The 3.5t model offers 13.9 cubic metres of cargo space and a payload of 700kg. Less impressive is the range, up to 155 miles on a charge.
BYD was the Headline Partner at the recent Broker News Awards 2025 held at the Orrery in London’s Marylebone.
Ralph Morton is the leading journalist in the leasing broker sector and editor of Broker News, the website which provides information and news for BVRLA-registered leasing brokers. He also writes extensively on the fleet and leasing market in both the UK and Europe.
