AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)03/14 Report--

On March 14, a report about Tesla's suspension of cooperation with BYD spread online. In response to this news, BYD officials and Tesla CEO Musk both made clarifications. BYD responded: "The above information is false information and does not conform to the actual situation." Musk later refuted the rumor on Twitter, saying: "The media report is false and the relationship between Tesla and BYD is positive."

On March 13, South Korean media reported: "Tesla stopped cooperation with BYD on batteries." The report cited industry sources as saying Tesla did not ask BYD to provide more batteries after its battery supply contract with BYD for low-cost models such as the Model 3 standard expired earlier this year. According to relevant reports, there are three possible reasons for the cessation of cooperation: 1. BYD blade battery continuity problem;2. Considering the subsidy policy related to electric vehicles in the United States;3. BYD has direct competition with Tesla in manufacturing and exporting electric vehicles in Europe, India, Southeast Asia and other places, which is also the reason for the termination of the contract.

LG Energy Solutions is reportedly speeding up the development of lithium iron phosphate batteries for electric vehicles at Tesla's request, so there is a view that the "close relationship" between the two companies may be deepened in the future. At present, Tesla uses LG New Energy and Ningde era batteries in Europe and Panasonic products in North America, while the Chinese market is mainly Ningde era and LG New Energy.

As a representative of global electric vehicle enterprises, the cooperation between BYD and Tesla has been attracting market attention. In fact, news of BYD's supply to Tesla began in the market as early as August 2021, when it was reported that BYD would supply Tesla with "blade batteries" in the second quarter of 2022, but BYD said it would "not comment" at the time. In June 2022, Lian Yubo, executive vice president of BYD Group, revealed in an interview with domestic media: "Tesla is a very successful enterprise, BYD respects Tesla, Musk is also a good friend, and will soon supply battery products for Tesla."

Tesla reportedly began using BYD's blade batteries in the second quarter of 2022, purchasing 10GWh, and carrying the Model Y as its first model. In terms of quantity, the purchase volume of 10GWh is not a small number. By contrast, Tesla China's battery installed capacity in 2021 is 19.98 GWh, and Tesla China sold about 320,000 vehicles that year.

At present, BYD and Tesla are both representatives of domestic new energy automobile head enterprises, among which BYD's sales performance in 2022 is extremely outstanding. In 2022, BYD ended its nearly 40-year history of being dominated by joint venture brands in China's automobile market, and became the annual new energy sales champion with 179947 vehicles delivered, while Tesla also ranked third in the annual new energy list with 439770 vehicles, second only to BYD and SAIC GM Wuling.

In addition to ensuring steady growth in the Chinese market, BYD is accelerating its expansion of the "sea" territory. On March 13, BYD officially announced that it had reached a cooperation with Octopus Electric Vehicles (Octopus EV), a British electric vehicle company, which will purchase 5000 electric vehicles from BYD in the next three years to serve the British market. The day before, BYD Europe President Shu Youxing said in an interview with the media: "BYD is looking for new factories in Europe or acquiring existing factories in order to gain a foothold in the region's 'very competitive' automotive industry." The first European plants could be in Germany, France, Spain, Poland and Hungary." Earlier this month, BYD announced the launch of the ATTO 3, the UK's first passenger car, starting at £ 36490, with the first four pioneer stores in Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and Milton Keynes due to open in mid-March. Industry forecasts suggest BYD's export sales could reach 300,000 to 500,000 vehicles by 2023.

at the signing ceremony

Left: Oliver Boots, Chief Commercial Officer of Octopus EV; Right: Shu Youxing: General Manager of BYD International Cooperation Division and European Automobile Sales Division

In October, Steve Wesley, a former Tesla board member and founder of the Wesley Group, said bluntly in an interview: "I think they [Tesla] have a real challenger for the first time, and the challenger's name is BYD."

As new energy vehicles gradually become the future development trend of the automobile industry, it is an indisputable fact that the competition in the new energy vehicle market has become increasingly fierce. Recently, the auto market has set off an unprecedented "price war." According to incomplete statistics, more than 30 automobile brands, including Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, Buick, BYD, etc., have participated in the price reduction of more than 86 models through factory subsidies or dealer price reduction, among which the price reduction is mostly traditional fuel vehicle brands, but industry personage thinks, compared with the high-speed growth of new energy vehicles, the traditional fuel vehicle market market may face greater growth pressure.

Or affected by the above news, BYD once fell more than 3% today, the stock price hit a 10-month low, but BYD strong counter-attack in the afternoon, by the close only fell 0.21%. By the time of issue, BYD reported 239.98 yuan/share, with a market value of 698.6 billion yuan.

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