Chinese electric car brands go global

With the world of car manufacturing blown open by the radically different demands of electric vehicles, new brands like China’s largest EV marque, BYD, are making in-roads around the globe.

Why it matters

With aggressive price competition at home amid a slowing market, Chinese EV companies are now looking abroad for growth in a period of increasing adoption. Meanwhile, countries in the middle east in particular begin to look beyond European and American brands.

This isn’t a marketing story in as much as a story about promotion. Instead it’s about other Ps in the marketing arsenal: pricing and placement.

What’s going on

Tech website Rest of World reports on the rise of Jordan as an unlikely battleground for the future of electric mobility.

• Jordan is highly dependent on gas and oil imports – high prices have accelerated the shift away from fossil-fuel powered cars.
• Trust was, initially an issue, according to Jihad Abunaser, secretary of the Jordan Free Zone Investor Commission, speaking to the website, but the pandemic-era shutdown of US and European imports helped to normalise Chinese brands – in short, availability matters.
• Consumers are price conscious, and many BYD vehicles can be bought for less than a Volkswagen EV and far less than a Tesla.

Sourced from Rest of World, WARC. Image: BYD