Warren Buffett-backed BYD to supply EV parts to rivals

BEIJING: BYD Co, the Chinese electric-vehicle maker backed by Warren Buffett, will start offering a full suite of EV components to rivals and aspiring auto manufacturers to diversify its revenue sources amid sputtering car demand.

Among the parts that the Shenzhen-based company makes and now sells are electric-car batteries, powertrains and lights, founder Wang Chuanfu said in an online press conference on Sunday. BYD, China’s biggest maker of electric vehicles, will use the brand name FinDreams for the parts business. Electric-car sales have been slumping in China since July, when the country reduced purchase subsidies, and the decline has been exacerbated by the coronavirus outbreak. BYD, which is financially more stable than most local EV competitors, is betting the new business will help it return to growth quicker even as the market contracts. “BYD will open its technology and products to the whole world,” Wang said. “FinDreams units will help change the role participants in Chinese auto industry play in the global new energy arena.”

BYD, founded as a mobile-phone battery maker, has been growing by expanding into new businesses over the past two decades. The company started car manufacturing in 2003 and rolled out its first vehicles powered by lithium-iron-phosphate batteries in 2006.