Stella Li, executive vice president of China’s leading electric vehicle maker BYD, noted that the Chinese automaker is willing to work with Tesla to battle combustion-powered cars.
The executive’s comments came as BYD and Tesla vie for supremacy in the global EV market, with both companies pushing aggressive innovation to capture consumer demand.
BYD exec’s comments:
Speaking to the Financial Times at a BYD showroom in London, Li noted that BYD would “work together” with Tesla to combat ICE vehicles. “Our common enemy is the internal combustion engine car. We need to work together… to make the industry change,” she stated.
She also stated that Beijing is “more open” to sharing innovations with foreign companies, even if there are rising trade tensions in Europe and the United States. “(The) Chinese government is more open, so maybe there is a lot of wrong perception here,” she noted.
China’s EV adoption:
Li emphasized the strength of China’s EV adoption as a model for the industry. She also expressed some confidence amidst the apparent slowdown in the global EV sector.
“Why are people still choosing the EV? Because it’s a better car, a smarter car… and it’s higher quality,” she stated.
Autonomous driving efforts:
BYD and Tesla’s efforts to make headway into the EV sector is highlighted by the two companies’ efforts to roll out a dedicated autonomous driving system to its domestic vehicles in China. Last month, BYD announced its “God’s Eye” self-driving system across most of its models in China at no additional cost.
Tesla, for its part, has pushed its first vision-based Full Self-Driving (FSD) features to the Chinese market. Early reviews of Tesla’s FSD features in China have been positive, with numerous users praising the system for its capability to traverse public roads without much issues.
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