BYD aims for Australia with Evant’s help
BYD is preparing to enter the Australian market. A letter of intent has now been signed with the Adelaide-based Evant Group to develop and produce electric cars for the Australian market starting next year.
Initially three models are planned: a seven-seater SUV, a compact SUV and a sedan, whereby BYD will pre-assemble the vehicles in China and then send them to Evant in Adelaide for adaptation to the Australian market. The partners are targeting initial orders for the first half of 2020, with first deliveries to follow later next year.
Evant will be led by former Tesla production manager Christian Reynolds. The company is a joint venture between Fusion Capital and the transport company Nexport. Both parent companies are also based in Australia. Part of the agreement with BYD is that Evant will gradually create the conditions to enable the production and assembly of the vehicles in Australia.
According to The Driven, the new partnership could provide an important boost to the South Australian car manufacturing sector, which has shrunk significantly since the closure of major Holden, Toyota and Mitsubishi plants. Last week, for example, the startup ACE EV (Australian Clean Energy Electric Vehicle Group) announced that it would set up a production facility in Adelaide to manufacture electric vehicles there from 2020 in cooperation with Aldom Motor. The goal is to increase production to up to 15,000 vehicles per year by 2025.
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