China's Tesla Takes On the World

BYD is rapidly expanding outside its home country to challenge established auto giants. 

- VIVIENNE WALT

BY HIS OWN admission, the car salesperson in Stockholm knew nothing about BYD last September, when his boss offered him a chance to work in the new showroom of China's biggest electric-car company. "I was like, 'BYD? Never heard of it," says Benhur Hiyabu, standing inside the showroom on a snowy March morning. After selling Subarus for years, Hiyabu decided he had little to lose: "I thought, 'Okay, I'm going to try something new," he says.

BYD is betting that customers in Europe, the Americas, and across Asia will also try something new, especially if the price is right. More than 20 years after inaugurating its first auto plant in Shenzhen, BYD-or Build Your Dreams, to use its fanciful full name-is pushing to expand passenger car sales beyond its comfort zone in China. Over the past year, the company has spent huge amounts of money opening showrooms in major cities worldwide, establishing offices in key countries, and setting up a complex system to ship its relatively low-cost electric cars overseas. If successful, BYD would become the first Chinese global automotive giant.

But the ambitious plan comes with major challenges. To make inroads, BYD must chip away at the established automaking Goliaths that already dominate the world's fast-growing electric car market. Chief among those rivals, of course, is Tesla, which has nearly ubiquitous consumer name recognition and a long track record. BYD must somehow get the attention of car buyers and then prove that its models are good enough.