The Race is On

Lower price points, stylish designs and superior tech features are propelling BYD in India's entry-level luxury EV market

- Rakshit Kumar

For Ahmedabad-based Luv Patel (name changed on request), Chinese automaker BYD's Sealion 7 was an easy choice when it came to switching from his Toyota Fortuner earlier this year.

The all-electric SUV was an upgrade in every sense for the 32-year-old businessman—from acceleration to design to its battery.

This is the third BYD vehicle in his family after Atto 3 and Seal. “So far, [we have had] no complaints from any BYD [car],” he says.

Some 1,000km away, in Faridabad, 58-year-old Anil Khurana needed a friend's recommendation to shed his initial reluctance towards the Chinese brand. As the pharmacist puts it, he was “hooked” after taking a test drive of Atto 3.

In the Driver's Seat

Despite being a relatively new entrant in the Indian electric passenger-vehicle segment, BYD is slowly shifting gears. The Chinese carmaker's market share rose from 1.9% in 2023-24 to 3.2% in 2024-25 to become the fourth-largest player, beating Hyundai (2.2%) and Citroën (1.8%) (see graphic Purring Ahead, pg 68).

The company sold 3,401 cars in 2024-25, a 90.3% rise from the previous year, according to the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (Fada). This makes it one of the fastest-growing auto brands in the country, trailing only MG Motor (158.2%) and Mercedes-Benz (100.5%).

As of April 2025, BYD India's passenger vehicles division had a network of 40 dealerships in the country, up from 27 in September 2024.

It has so far steered clear of a direct, volume-driven confrontation with mass-market leaders like Tata Motors or Mahindra & Mahindra, instead carving out a niche in the accessible luxury segment.

Take, for instance, the Sealion 7. Though the SUV has not topped sales charts yet, it has received a positive response from Indian buyers, garnering 1,000 bookings within a month of its debut at the Bharat Mobility Global Expo in January, the company said.