Nikkei reporters test drive BYD electric SUV Nikkei Chinese Website

Chinese pure electric vehicle (EV) maker BYD (BYD) is set to enter Japan’s passenger car market. It is planned to launch three models in succession, starting with the SUV that will be launched in January 2023. BYD has been selling pure electric buses in Japan before, and it is the first time to sell passenger cars. Can Chinese-made pure electric vehicles be accepted by Japanese consumers? Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Chinese version: Nikkei Chinese website) reporters tested BYD’s first SUV “ATTO 3” in Japan to test its strength.

ATTO 3 is a mid-size 5-seat SUV. Compared with the pure electric vehicles of Japanese car companies, the width of ATTO 3 is 1875 mm, which is wider, but slightly smaller than Toyota’s “bZ4X” and Nissan’s “Ariya”. The appearance of the whole vehicle is simple and quite satisfactory. Tofukuji Atsuki, president of BYD Auto Japan, said, “We are targeting a wide range of consumers, not a niche group.”

But following entering the car, the reporter found that the interior is very delicate. It gives the feeling of “gym x music” and adopts the design of dumbbells and musical instruments. The seats and steering wheel with red tangents are faux leather, but the touch is solid and the texture is surprisingly high.

The first thing that catches the eye from the driver’s seat is the 12.8-inch monitor. In addition to operating the navigation and air conditioning, it is also possible to check the images of the rear-view monitor, etc. For easy viewing, the display can be rotated horizontally and vertically at any time. Inside the steering wheel are digital gauges that display speed, remaining power and motor output, making people feel advanced.

There are still plenty of switches left around the steering wheel and gear shifter, though. Compared with the pure electric car of Tesla in the United States, the operability is closer to the existing gasoline car.

After you step on the accelerator and start driving, you can feel the quietness unique to a pure electric vehicle without an engine, as well as the quick response of the car to the operation. Acceleration is also smooth with just a touch of the gas and brake pedals while driving. There are three driving modes: Economy, Standard and Sport.

The test drive area is around Yokohama Mirai Port. The car size didn’t feel inconvenient to drive on Japanese roads either. The ride comfort is stable, and when ordinary drivers like reporters drive, they feel no less than pure electric vehicles from Japanese car companies.

On the other hand, you can also feel the difference with Japanese cars. One is the feedback of operation feeling. Japanese cars deliberately transmit the sense of acceleration of the car to the driver by adding sounds and other means. However, although the ATTO 3 has accelerated to nearly 100 km/h, it is only the wind noise and the sound of the tire contacting the road becoming louder, which makes it difficult for the driver to feel the acceleration with his body.

Another point is that the regenerative braking is weak. The “regenerative brake” uses the rotation of the motor to generate electricity during deceleration, which is the advantage of pure electric vehicles. Even if the regeneration function of ATTO 3 is set to “strong”, compared with Nissan’s “LEAF (Chinese name: LEAF)”, it still feels that the regeneration function is weak.

The degree of completion for the Japanese market may become a problem. BYD took the lead in launching the ATTO 3 in Australia this summer. This time, the reporter tested the charging method of the Australian model and changed it to a model that meets Japanese standards. Adjustments such as support for Japanese navigation and Japanese display language will be completed in the future.

After the test drive, the reporter felt that the performance of the BYD vehicle itself is enough to compete with the pure electric vehicles of Japanese car companies. In Japan, BYD’s brand still lacks popularity, and the key to selling well will be the price.

Nissan’s Ariya has a minimum price of 5.39 million yen, and SUBARU’s “SOLTERRA” has a minimum price of 5.94 million yen, but the price of ATTO 3 (Chinese name: Yuan PLUS) in China is regarding 140,000 to 170,000 yuan in July (About 2.8 million to 3.5 million yen, the actual selling price following enjoying the subsidy). Some analysts believe that BYD’s price in Japan will also be controlled at around 4 million yen.

In addition, the exterior of ATTO 3 is available in 5 colors including blue and red, but there is only 1 color tone for the interior, and no original options are available. There will be no price increase caused by adding accessories, and the price system is clear at a glance.

Launched in China in February, the ATTO 3 sold 80,000 units worldwide in the six months to the end of July. Japanese automakers do not yet have pure electric models that sell 10,000 units per month. Japan’s share of new EV sales (passenger cars) will finally reach 2% in 2022, lagging behind major countries in the world. BYD, which starts selling in Japan in early 2023, may stimulate Japanese automakers.

Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Chinese edition: Nikkei Chubun Net) Ryotaro Yamada and Taketomo Fukui

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