Published June 17Edited June 18
Beijing, China — Blink and you’ll miss it: At 496 kmh, the fastest production car in the world would almost teleport past you if you witnessed it at top speed.
You’ll also miss the badge: not Ferrari’s prancing horse, Lamborghini’s charging bull or Bugatti’s red oval. Instead, a stylized zigzag line — the ancient Chinese script for “electricity” or “power” — adorns the front.
The Yangwang U9 is ambition embodied for BYD, China’s most recognizable carmaker.
The company began life as a battery maker and has since become the world’s best-selling EV manufacturer. It got there by pairing advanced technology with competitive prices. As it now prepares for its biggest challenge yet — expanding globally to compete with all automakers, not just EV brands — the company is investing more in brand building to turn consumer awareness into long-term loyalty.
“We’re in a new era. We are talking about technology more than cars, and in this key point, BYD is superior because we are a technology company. We are not the classic OEM that made only cars,” José Miranda, CMO for Americas, Europe, Middle East and Africa, told The Current at the Beijing Auto Show in April.
“We have more than 120,000 engineers only in R&D, an average of more than 50 patents per working day of new technology. This is huge, and this is very unique. And now we bring this to the auto industry … to improve [our customers’] quality of life.”
BYD’s most visible campaign so far has been its sponsorship of the Euro 2024 soccer tournament, which brought big increases in consumer awareness. Live sports continue to be a focus for BYD, but it’s far from the only marketing investment. The company recently enlisted former 007 actor Daniel Craig as the global ambassador for its upmarket marque, Denza.
BYD is activating across different media channels to orchestrate a concerted go-to-market effort, Miranda told The Current. “It’s not only one channel, it’s true that it’s a mix of platforms. … [For example], with streaming platforms, we work with them to put the car inside of series or movies, because we know very well that this works.”
As BYD prepares the international rollout of its latest flash-charging technology — which it says can fully charge a car in just nine minutes — it seems that the only thing standing in the way of its goal of global leadership is the long-standing, deep loyalty that competitors like Volkswagen and Toyota have established.
A strong brand can create an emotional connection that keeps customers coming back car after car. Cementing that kind of brand loyalty takes decades. But if the pace at which BYD rolls out market-leading technology is anything to go by, it may be moving faster than most.
Blink, and you might miss that too.
