The Business Car Files
BYD UK Steve Beattie,
W
sales and marketing director
BYD UK sales and marketing director Steve Beattie speaks to Martyn Collins at the launch of the Sealion 7 about the changes he’s made since joining last November, and the fleet opportunity moving forward.
e first ask Beattie what he’s changed since joining BYD, and what the fleet plans are now the Sealion 7 is launched? He said: “The brand launched in 2023, and it was very new. We launched Atto 3 with four retailers! I think you can see the journey we’ve been on; we were probably the pioneers in bringing a new Chinese brand to the UK! So, the Chinese brands that have come in recently, I think, have been able to benefit from the work that BYD did. The growth plan from a car perspective in 2023 was probably a little slower than we would have liked. Of course, that year was all about getting the network in place, when we were starting to launch the product. “As we got into mid-2024, I think the team had done an amazing job from a retail perspective – getting 30 retailers. From a fleet perspective, the hard bit is getting product in front of all the leasing companies and getting them to underwrite residual values. It is no mean feat when you launch a brand, and you’re basically going through framework agreement after framework agreement with lawyers to sign off that they’re going to buy your cars – as the big banks will be risk adverse! Especially with electric vehicles – you’ve seen the residual value movement in the last year!
“So, all that work took 12 months effectively – April ‘23, to April ‘24. The team did a great job effectively setting things up and building a base – a building block for everything! “I was lucky enough to start at BYD in Q4 last year, and for me, it was just about putting some processes and some formal ways of working in place. So, a perfect example of this is that we have a sales meeting every Monday. I absolutely love that – Mondays are my favourite day of the week! The whole team are in, and we go through everything operationally. It is about getting the data from our network, and then building that data into the business, so we can understand what’s going on. This has built a platform for our growth. Understanding our business from order to delivery is fundamental for success. “This is not really a reset, it’s just building on what we’ve done, and I feel lucky that I joined when I did. Malcolm Fryer, Jeanette Griggs, Mark Blundell, Simon Bisp, Adam Harkin and Claudio
Left: Steve Beattie, sales and marketing director, BYD UK
34 | May/June 2025 |
www.businesscar.co.uk
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