BYD opened a new front in China’s electric vehicle price war — adding advanced driver-assistance features across most of its lineup for no extra cost and sending its shares to a record.
At a highly anticipated event on Monday evening in Shenzhen, BYD said it will make its God’s Eye driver-assistance system standard in vehicles priced from 100,000 yuan ($18,580.42) and include it in several lower-cost models such as the popular Seagull hatchback.
While assisted driving is one of the core battlegrounds for automakers in China, vehicles with similar features from rivals typically sell for more than 150,000 yuan and some manufacturers charge additional fees to have the tech enabled.
Tesla, which is waiting for approval from Beijing to roll out trials of features it markets as Full Self-Driving, but which require constant supervision, charges US$99 ($134.37) a month in the US.
“This is basically a non-price-cut price cut disguised as a smart-feature update on almost all BYD branded vehicles,” independent China autos analyst Lei Xing said.
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BYD shares jumped 4.5% to a record high at the start of Hong Kong trading Tuesday, lifting its market value to US$132 billion — more than Ford Motor, General Motors and Stellantis combined. The gain built on a 21% rally last week in anticipation of Monday’s event.
The move to democratise advanced driving features could help BYD — which sold more than 4 million vehicles last year — widen the gap over Tesla and domestic rivals such as Xpeng and smartphone giant Xiaomi, which haven’t been able to make such technology available on lower-cost vehicles.
This year “will be the first for intelligent driving for everybody”, BYD chairman Wang Chuanfu said at Monday’s event at the company’s headquarters. “It will become a must-have in the next two to three years, just as a seatbelt or an airbag.”
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BYD also plans to integrate software from DeepSeek, the Chinese startup that stunned global markets last month with its open-source AI model, it said Monday, without specifying when that would happen. The company also claimed it has obtained China’s first Level 3 assisted driving testing license.
BYD’s announcement was largely welcomed by analysts, who said it will give the company an advantage over rivals like Tesla.
“The sheer volume of model launches could make it difficult for peers to make timely responses,” Morgan Stanley analyst Tim Hsiao wrote in a note.
“BYD has now gone from 0 to 1 in assisted driving development, which will accelerate the adoption rate of Navigation on Autopilot function in the mass market and lead to a wave of upgrades by existing users,” Jefferies’ analysts said.
First unveiled in 2023, God’s Eye relies on cameras and radar sensors to assist drivers with features including valet parking, adaptive cruising and automated braking.
China, the world’s biggest car market, has embraced driver-support features in a way few other places have, with most automakers providing technology that’s between Level 2 and 3 — giving drivers certain degrees of support with tasks like steering and braking.
After going all-in on fully electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles in 2022, BYD has focused on upgrading its powertrains. Last year, it unveiled hybrids capable of driving more than 2,000 kilometres, and it’s expected to launch the successor to its lithium iron phosphate Blade batteries this year, which could add more range, faster charging and more durability.
Charts: Bloomberg
