BANKING ON BYD’S MOMENTUM
Analysts and consumers alike said the success of BYD has helped open doors for other Chinese brands.
Associate Professor Raymond Ong, a transport infrastructure researcher at the National University of Singapore, said trust in Chinese EVs is rising due to BYD’s performance.
“If people have tried BYD cars and say they are good, and that they don’t see any issue, with the car functioning better than what they have driven in the past, then the faith in Chinese brands will keep on growing,” he said.
“People know that globally, China is the leading EV manufacturer, so why not trust (in the brands)?”
Mr See agreed, noting that he “wouldn’t dare to touch” Chinese brands before BYD overtook Toyota as Singapore’s most popular car.
“But over the years, they’ve improved tremendously, they’ve built upon their technology and made a lot of improvements, so I gained a lot of confidence to switch over to a Chinese brand,” he said.
Another buyer, tech entrepreneur Willy Tan, recently purchased a GAC E9 plug-in hybrid. While not a fully electric vehicle, he said his confidence was buoyed by the broader market’s acceptance of Chinese EVs.
“If the cars were brought in by smaller dealerships, I would trust them less … but the Chinese offerings that have been coming here, especially those brought in by the bigger distributors, do give me confidence,” he said.
