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Liu Xueliang, president of BYD Japan, said in an interview that the company aims to open 100 electric car sales stores in Japan by 2025, but has no plans to build a factory in Japan, Kyodo news agency reported. Mr Liu said BYD had been operating IT-related batteries in Japan for 23 years and provided electric buses to Fukushima prefecture, Kyoto prefecture and Okinawa prefecture, so it made sense to enter the Japanese passenger car market and sell EV.

On July 21, BYD Japan Branch (BYD JAPAN Co., Ltd.) held a brand conference in Tokyo. BYD announced its decision to officially sell new energy passenger cars in the Japanese market from January 2023. Yuan PLUS, Dolphin and Seal three new energy vehicles were unveiled at the same day's press conference and will be launched in the Japanese market next year. In order to better serve the Japanese market, BYD plans to set up sales and service outlets in all Japanese prefectures by 2025.

Japan is an island country with a well-developed automobile industry, but local brands such as Toyota, Honda, Mazda and Nissan occupy 90% of the Japanese market. Whether German or American, it is difficult to find a development direction in this market. BYD, as a Chinese brand, began to re-examine the Japanese market and try. So, does BYD really have a market advantage in entering the Japanese market?

According to sales data by fuel type released by the Japan Automobile Dealers Association, the total number of new ordinary cars sold in Japan in 2021 will be about 2.4 million, of which 21139 are electric vehicles, accounting for about 0.9 per cent of total car sales. As we all know, Japan, as the third largest automobile consumer in the world, is particularly negative about the development of electric vehicles, and consumers themselves are not very interested in electric cars, while Toyota, Honda, Nissan and other car companies have announced their full entry into the electric vehicle market. more often forced to enter.

Although sales of new energy electric vehicles in Japan are small, even if they have less than 1 per cent of the market share, they are still shared by local brands such as the Nissan Leaf and the Toyota Prius PHEV, which are relatively popular electric models in the Japanese market, while even Tesla's Model 3 models imported into Japan do not sell as much as the above two models. According to data released by the Japan Automobile Import Association (JAIA), 8610 pure electric vehicles were sold in 2021, of which 5232 were sold, including Tesla.

From this point of view, it is easy for BYD to enter the Japanese market, but it is difficult for BYD to achieve certain results. Like other car brands, how to get Japanese consumers to accept new energy vehicles, especially those made in China, is one of the biggest problems that BYD needs to solve.

Of course, there must be opportunities due to risks. Japan's low market share of electric vehicles also shows that there is huge growth potential in its market. After all, local car companies such as Toyota, Honda and Nissan have also begun to accelerate the development of electric vehicles. In the future, the opportunities in this market must outweigh the risks. Anyway, the market is blank. How to highlight the advantages of domestic electric vehicles in the context of new energy is also a major task for BYD.

Compared with other car brands, BYD's advantage is still relatively obvious. First of all, in terms of brand awareness, as BYD Japan President Liu Xueliang said, BYD has been engaged in IT-related battery business in Japan for 23 years, and has also provided electric buses to Fukushima Prefecture, Capital Prefecture and Okinawa Prefecture. BYD electric buses have accumulated some popularity in the dark. At the same time, as the new energy vehicle brand with the first sales in the world and the third car company by market capitalization in the world, BYD's position in the global new energy vehicle market also provides some added value for the development of new energy vehicle market in Japan. In addition, even Toyota, the world's largest seller, also cooperates with BYD on electric vehicles.

As for the Japanese market where electric cars have not yet become the mainstream of consumption, if Chinese car brands really want to overtake around the corner, while Japanese local brands are still hesitant about the development of electric cars, it is not a bad thing to take the lead in layout after all.

In addition to BYD, FAW Red Flag announced on December 19, 2021 that it will open a store in front of the JR Nambo Station in Osaka City, which will sell H9 fuel cars and hybrids. According to FAW, it will also expand its sales outlets to Tokyo and other cities this year, and begin to consider the sale of electric vehicles.

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