Late last year Chinese automaker BYD surpassed Tesla as the world’s biggest seller of electric vehicles. But you won’t find its cars in the United States anytime soon. With the Chinese auto industry facing tariffs in the U.
S. and the European Union, one of its most important markets is Southeast Asia. Of the 31 passenger car brands represented last month at the sprawling Indonesia International Auto Show outside Jakarta, about a third were from China.
The vast majority of those were electric vehicles. Striding past fashion models and huge video displays, Safik Bahsein made his way to the BYD display, where he honed in on a BYD Dolphin, which promises 300 miles on a single charge and sells for the equivalent of $26,000. It’s one of three EV models that BYD now sells in Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous country — with more than 275 million people — and the largest car market in Southeast Asia.
The company’s first shipment of 1,000 EVs arrived last month. “It’s quite beautiful,” said Bahsein, 49, who works in shipping. “Compared with European cars, I think BYD has good prospects in the future.
” In his view, the quality of Chinese cars now matches those from Europe and Japan. He said he was considering buying one for his wife, though he still prefers his Tesla Model 3, which he had to have specially imported two years ago because there are no dealers in Indonesia. The country’s car market has long been dominated by the Japanese brands Toyota, D.