The Japanese arm of Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD said Thursday it will begin selling passenger cars in Japan starting next year, with the company expected to face fierce competition from Western and domestic automakers.
BYD Japan announced during a news conference in Tokyo that it is planning to release an SUV, compact car and sedan in sequential order, but refrained from announcing prices.
"We would like to promote (the vehicles) at an accessible price range while remaining mindful of market conditions," an executive of BYD Japan said.
Its Atto 3 SUV, which was released in China in February this year and has a cruising range of 485 kilometers, will make its debut in Japan in January 2023.
The compact car and sedan, which are scheduled to be available as early as 2023, both have cruising ranges of around 500 km.
The announcement comes on the heels of Mercedes-Benz Japan announcing it will increase its number of EV models from two to five this year, while Audi Japan, the Japanese unit of German luxury automaker Audi AG, has doubled the number of models to eight from the previous year.
According to the Japan Automobile Importers Association, the makeup of imported vehicles has surged from 5.9% of the country's total new EV sales in 2014 to 40.6% in 2021.
Meanwhile, domestic automakers have been attempting to catch up, with Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors jointly releasing a new EV in June. Toyota has also implemented a flat-rate subscription service for its new EVs.
BYD ranked second in global EV market share between January and June, selling around 320,000 vehicles. It gained a foothold in Japan through electric buses, making up around 70% of the domestic demand.