"Euro 2024 has paid off for BYD"

The Chinese car manufacturer BYD sees itself on the upswing thanks to its sponsorship of the European Football Championship: "In some countries, our incoming orders have doubled or even tripled," says Stella Li, the member of the Chinese automotive group's Executive Board responsible for Europe. The visibility of the brand has increased significantly. Google searches for BYD are twice as frequent as before the European Championship, said Stella Li in an interview with Guido Reinking from the Autoren-Union Mobilität on the sidelines of the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

This year, BYD replaced Volkswagen as the mobility sponsor of the European Championships. The world's largest electric car manufacturer has advertised extensively both inside and outside the stadiums.

However, the 53-year-old manager is concerned about the EU's threat of punitive tariffs on Chinese electric cars. "Tariffs are not fair to consumers, who will end up paying the price," says Li. However, the company is working with dealers to find a solution so that customers do not suffer as a result of this development. The EU Commission has set the most favorable punitive tariff of 17.4 percent for BYD. Competitor SAIC, active in Europe with the MG brand, is being asked to pay 37.6 percent due to a lack of cooperation.

In the interview, Stella Li also explained how BYD intends to further increase sales in Germany, what plans the company is pursuing with its new plants in Hungary and Turkey and why the brand is not expected to produce a cheap car. (aum)