In the near future, there will be 100,000 BYD electric vehicles driving on the streets of Europe, which touches the nerves of the European automobile manufacturing industry.

German car rental company Sixt said it has signed a new cooperation agreement with Chinese automaker BYD, committing to buy about 100,000 electric vehicles from BYD over the next few years.

According to public information, as one of the largest car rental companies in Europe, Sixt has branches in more than 100 countries and regions around the world, with more than 2,100 business outlets, mainly providing a series of high-end car rental services for business, corporate and private users. .

According to the agreement between the two parties, in the first phase of cooperation, Sixt will order thousands of pure electric vehicles from BYD. The first vehicles are expected to be delivered to Sixt's customers in the fourth quarter of this year, covering Germany, the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands and other markets. In the next six years, Sixt will purchase at least 100,000 new energy vehicles from BYD.

Sixt said that its first BYD model to be launched is ATTO 3, the "overseas version" of the Dynasty series Zhongyuan Plus, and it will explore cooperation opportunities with BYD in different regions of the world in the future. According to Sixt's plan, by 2030, 70% to 90% of the models it offers in Europe will be electric vehicles.

"Sixt is committed to providing customers with personalized, mobile and flexible travel services. The cooperation with BYD is a milestone for us to achieve the goal of electrification of 70% to 90% of the fleet. We look forward to working with BYD to actively promote automobiles. The rental market is electrifying,” said Vinzenz Pflanz, Chief Commercial Officer (Vehicle Sales and Procurement) at Sixt SE.

However, the cooperation between BYD and Sixt made some German media "sour". Among them, the German weekly "Focus" said in a report on October 7, "Sixt's large orders to Chinese companies are a slap in the face to German automakers."

“The best example of no one laughing at a Chinese competitor in Wolfsburg (Germany, where the Volkswagen Group is headquartered) is when rental car giant Sixt ordered BYD’s electric car instead of about 100,000 of the new Volkswagen ID.4. ." The above report believes that in the new energy vehicle track, China will "realize its dream", while German, European and Japanese automakers will "pay the price".

The above-mentioned report also mentioned that in terms of electric vehicles, China not only has a treasure trove of raw materials, but also can use cheap electricity for production, which makes the EU's auto manufacturing industry no longer competitive. In terms of technology and design, Chinese cars are already on a par with international rivals such as Tesla, and they are more popular than German electric cars in the Chinese market.

As for the reason why BYD won the order, Stefan Bratzel, director of the German Automobile Management Institute (CAM), believed in an interview with Handelsblatt that in the field of electric vehicles, Chinese companies have stronger delivery capabilities than German automakers. Delivery times for other European EVs ordered by Sixt tend to take more than a year.

According to incomplete statistics from the "Daily Economic News" reporter, BYD currently has more than ten factories in operation and under construction, of which the Shenzhen, Xi'an and Changsha bases have an annual planned production capacity of about 1.2 million vehicles. In addition, BYD's production bases in Changzhou, Fuzhou, Hefei and Jinan will also be put into operation this year.

After the production capacity bottleneck was eased, BYD's sales also increased significantly. Official data show that in September this year, BYD's new energy vehicle production and sales were 204,900 and 201,300, up 118.12% and 183.07% year-on-year, respectively.

In this context, BYD is also accelerating its layout in overseas markets. Among them, BYD Yuan PLUS, Han and Tang models have been pre-sold in the European market recently, and will be officially launched during this year's Paris Auto Show in France. Following the Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Dutch, Belgian and German markets, BYD will further develop the French and British markets before the end of this year.

As self-owned brand new energy vehicles "go overseas" one after another, traditional automakers such as Europe may have felt the pressure. Germany's "Economic Weekly" said in a report on October 5 that Chinese electric cars are as good as Volkswagen -- or better. Sixt's purchase of 100,000 EVs from China's BYD is the start of a massive "offensive" (Europe) by Chinese EV makers. Currently, more than 15 Chinese car brands are ready to "conquer" the European market.

According to statistics from the General Administration of Customs, from January to August this year, my country exported 562,500 electric passenger vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 49.5%, with a total value of 78.34 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 92.5%, and more than half of them were exported to Europe.

With its excellent product strength, its own brands are gradually gaining recognition from foreign markets. For example, the MG brand, which has previously been deployed in overseas markets, has now sold more than one million vehicles overseas and has successfully entered more than 80 countries and regions; since this year, Xpeng Motors has launched sales of Xpeng pure electric vehicles in Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. Sedan P5; the first batch of 500 Lantu FREE has also been sent to Norway.

"my country's own brand exports have entered a new stage, which is also an opportunity period for the development of my country's new energy vehicles. Great changes have taken place in the export of independent brands based on new energy and the export of fuel vehicles." National Passenger Vehicle Market Information Joint Conference Cui Dongshu thinks.

"A new development pattern of the auto industry in the new era is taking shape, which means new productivity and new competitiveness for corporate brands. China's auto industry is also transforming from domestic-based to global development." Chinese Academy of Sciences Science and Technology Development Strategy Wang Xiaoming, deputy director of the research institute and executive director of the Industrial Science and Technology Innovation Research Center, said at the summit forum on the theme of China's automobile driving force that it is necessary to balance the requirements of different global markets and the views of consumers in different countries. Only in this way can Chinese automobiles go global and Achieve steady and sustainable development.