The Business Car Files
De Freitas – everything they’ve put in place is just ready for us to grow. If you look at Dolphin, and Atto 3, they are great products but are probably more suited to retail. What really helped us, was when Seal came along in mid-’24. Of course it takes a little time to get it into systems, get residual values on it, and that started to pick up in October/ November, so for me Seal is an important fleet car. Latterly, as we move towards the Sealion 7, what you’ll see again is a very strong fleet car. “So, I look at my product and say I’ve got five models now, but where do they sit? Now, in terms of the channels, of course Seal and Sealion will still sell in retail, but I see them as my real fleet opportunity. My user choosers, my company cars, and of course our salary sacrifice – they lend themselves very much to that. Whereas a couple of the other cars, such as the Seal U-DMi, are more of a retail proposition. “So, it’s great we’ve got these products across the channels, because you have to be across all channels if you’re going to be successful.”
We then push Beattie on which brands he thinks fleet drivers will be conquesting from: He says: “In the fleet market we need to capitalise on the Tesla opportunity, with the Model 3 and Model Y. Tesla was such a viable product in the EV market for so long, that it had that halo effect for such a long period that everyone went and bought one! Now, there are so many other products on the market, that gives those customers the opportunity to get into something different, and I think we’re at the forefront, and people are going to be considering our cars.” Aftersales is important for UK fleet, and we ask Beattie if this works better for BYD than for other new Chinese entrants? He says: “Although we are a new car brand to the market, we have been in the UK since 2013, as we have 2,500 buses, with a 74%
Above: Beattie believes the Seal, that was launched at the end of 2023, is BYD’s fl eet opportunity.
market share in London. So, we’ve been established in the UK for a long time, and that of course would mean local aftersales capability – we’ve got to keep those buses running!
“Secondly, in terms of dealer network, we have 67 dealers across the country, which means there’s not that many blank spots. What we’ve got in plan now, for the end of June, is to have over 80. Our ambition is to have over 100 dealers by the end of the year, so very similar to a lot of other brands doing the volume we’re planning.
“My point to fleet managers considering putting a Chinese brand on, is they should choose BYD. Firstly, because we sold 4.2 million cars last year, we are the number one brand in China, and there’s a reason why we’re number one in China, and that’s because of how good the product is.
“The second, is that we’ve been in the UK a long time, looking after the commercial vehicle network, and the third thing is the dealer network has grown to 67 dealers, and we will be at 80 by the end of June. So, that aftersales support is there.”
“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.”
Above: Beattie hopes to capitalise on the ‘Tesla opportunity’, conquesting current Model 3 and Model Y drivers into the latest BYD models, such as the Sealion 7.
www.businesscar.co.uk | May/June 2025 | 35
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