BYD HQ TOUR: Are Chinese cars safe?

BYD is China's most popular homegrown car brand – recently I visited their HQ in Shenzhen for a tour!

Back when I was living in New Zealand, everyone was buying Japanese cars. That’s all changed, and this year China overtook Japan to become to world’s #1 auto exporter.

Shenzhen-based BYD is right on top. In fact, the top selling EV in New Zealand right now is the BYD Atto-3.

So it got me thinking: just how safe are Chinese cars? I contact BYD and they’ve agreed to show me around! Come with me…

#byd #ev #car

[ralphzoombeenie]

Owned a BYD Atto3 for 14 mths, 13, 000km no problems, comfortable and efficient. It has given me full confidence to order a Seal performance without a second thought for delivery within a month.

[Cheburashka]

BYD is opening its 1st factory and research centre outside of China here in Salvador de Bahia, Brasil. And yes: In just one year since their arrival, they've become the top seller of EV/Hybrid cars in the country.

[pbworld]

Great video as always, Andy. This is the sort of informative videos people outside China need to see to really understand how the country is progressing rather than the miserable BBC articles. Wishing you a Merry Xmas.

[Chinese-Canadian]

I have heavily invested in three Chinese EV companies, BYD, XPeng and NIO. Even though the stocks have not been stellar, I have a lot of confidence in China's commitment to EVs.

[Brick-Life]

I live in Melbourne and we just picked up the BYD Dolphin. A great car! They have improved so much since what they made 8 years ago when their cars were very basic. When I visited Guangzhou in November the BYD Qin is used as taxis but not as common as the GAC Aion S. There are so many BYD models and the Han is very nice

[teckmenglee]

I just came back from China, I visited Suzhou and Hangzhou. I spoke to the drivers of DiDi (equivalent to Grab and Uber in other countries). Most of the web-hailed cars in Suzhou and Hangzhou are EVs manufactured in China, (like Geely, SAIC etc). The car is vey silent, and the general build quality is definitely acceptable. According to the driver, the driving range in the city is about 450km to 550km, which is more than 1 full day's use. He charges overnight and spends about 300-400 Rmb on charging cost for 1 month (about 50-60USD for 1 month's charging).
I enquired about the availability of charging stations and he said there is more than sufficient as the government has invested building more than enough charging stations well ahead of selling the EVs.
I was really impressed with the price range/performance of China made EVs. So the key is that the government must invest in infrastructure is it expects EVs to take off, otherwise it will only be for the rich.

[sternencolonel]

As someone who work in the german car industry I can safely say, the management is deeply afraid of chinese manufacturers pushing into the marked.
In the public mind however, many still associate chinese cars with examples like the dreadful "Landwind" SUV shown on the IAA in 2005, I saw it on display and yes it was terrible.
But that is nearly 20 years ago and chinese automakers are frightening fast in learning and adopting.

[hawkkim]

very nice. hope they are cheap enough and available around the world. I'm tired of getting financially abused by local auto makers where I live.

[Richard_H_U]

A friend sold his Lexus for a BYD Atto.
While he’s very happy with the Atto, he shared that driving an EV requires a different mind set in a country that’s just introducing EVs to its people where there aren’t many charging facilities.

[l]

Twenty years ago, Chinese cars received 0 stars in European crash tests. At that time, European car experts advised consumers not to buy Chinese cars.
Now that BYD has received 5 stars in European crash tests, Chinese cars are completely different from those of 20 years ago

[carpediem]

After seeing those battery tests I'd feel much safer getting a BYD over any other electric car.

[annewong]

My friend is driving BYD Atto in New Zealand

[OhFookinELL]

The BYD guide was very articulate. Really enjoyed this video.

[DanBurgaud]

We are receiving our ATTO3 this January. The queue is long. Even the local Honda master distributor applied for BYD distributorship.

[asl]

That room with all the large, noise dampening panels on the walls was awesome!

[AlexanderTheGreat-fr]

Excellent video and very well presented. Video quality is excellent. You should be given a BYD car of your choice for free of charge

[johnli]

Love that "short circuit" test and the crash test videos.

[xiaoyunchen]

I'm in Michigan and am hoping to get a BYD EV in ~2 years when I retire my current Prius. i hope BYD car will be available at Michigan by then! thanks for this great video!

[Lee_CHN]

中国的年轻一代更自信、更开放，对外国品牌没有那么大的迷信心理，他们更愿意接受国产车。如果按年龄层划分的话，国产车的主要客户群体就是90后以下的年轻一代，我本人作为这一群体中的一员，对国产车的印象就是国产车用料很足，足够安全。而且从市场角度来看，在一个10亿级的超大国内市场中竞争，国产车一定是在智能化、安全性方面做的足够好了，否则不可能脱颖而出。刚刚入手问界新M7, 我相信国产车！

[edwardkon]

Andy, your video truly helped to dispel any negative view on BYD. Great job, mate!