On November 18, as BYD rolled out its 10 millionth new energy vehicle from the BYD Xiaomo Industrial Park in the Shenzhen-Shantou Special Cooperation Zone, the largest new energy vehicle manufacturer in China—and the world—celebrated its 30th anniversary.
During the press conference, Wang Chuanfu, Chairman and President of BYD Company Limited, shared for the first time the story of BYD's entrepreneurial journey over the past three decades. Starting with a small factory and a 20-member team, BYD has grown into a world-class enterprise with nearly a million employees, driven by an engineer's spirit of "daring to dream, daring to act, and daring to persevere."
For Wang Chuanfu and BYD, there have been several pivotal moments in their 30-year entrepreneurial timeline.
In the initial stages of its venture, faced with challenges of both capital and technology, BYD innovatively employed fixtures instead of assembly lines for battery manufacturing. At that time, Japanese companies nearly monopolized the global battery market, prohibiting the export of charging battery technology and equipment. Unable to afford expensive automated production lines, Wang Chuanfu decided to build the production equipment himself.
He broke down the mechanized production line, converting all processes that could be done manually into manual operations, leaving the rest to machines. To ensure that human operations were as precise as robotic hands, Wang Chuanfu designed numerous fixtures, each costing only several yuan. These fixtures played a crucial role in battery production, allowing BYD to produce high-quality batteries at extremely low costs.
For example, a hole was designed at the screw insertion point, allowing workers to simply place the screw into the hole without misalignment. This simple yet clever design greatly improved production efficiency and quality stability. Through the "human + fixture = robotic hand" model, BYD established a production line capable of producing 4,000 nickel-cadmium batteries daily for just over 1 million yuan, whereas imported equipment would have cost millions.
This innovative production method not only provided BYD with a cost advantage but also enabled it to stand out in the global battery market. BYD rapidly expanded its market share, becoming one of the leading companies in the battery industry.
It is well-known in the industry that BYD started with batteries for electronic consumer products, where it also distinguished itself through technological innovation.
Due to the signal shielding effect of metal materials in mobile phones, many manufacturers have been researching how to combine metal and plastic to improve signal strength. In 2011, BYD innovatively launched PMH nano-injection technology, achieving the integration of plastic and metal. This technology forms nanometer-sized holes on the surface of the metal substrate before injecting nanoplastic materials, achieving a strong bond between the metal and plastic at the nanoscale.
This technology addresses the issues of signal shielding and obstruction caused by metal, allowing electronic products like mobile phones to utilize metal materials while maintaining signal clarity. PMH nano-injection technology has been widely applied in the manufacturing of electronic products, becoming a key technology in the creation of three-section mobile phone back covers.
Not only did this technology enhance the aesthetics and feel of mobile phones and other electronic products, but it also significantly improved product performance and reliability.
The two examples mentioned above demonstrate BYD's capability to turn the impossible into reality through technological innovation, allowing it to rise from obscurity to distinction.
BYD has also faced its share of downturns.
For instance, starting in April 2010, BYD car dealers began withdrawing from their partnerships. This event affected a wide range of dealers, including those in Chengdu, Sichuan; Hunan; and Shandong. The main reason for the withdrawals was BYD's excessive demands on its dealers and unreasonable business policies. BYD had set excessively high quotas for vehicle pick-ups, leading to severe inventory backlogs and strained cash flows among its dealers. Unable to bear the immense pressure, many dealers opted to withdraw.
This incident severely impacted BYD's brand image and sales, sparking widespread industry skepticism about BYD's sales model.
Subsequently, BYD regained its dealers' confidence by strengthening communication and adjusting its business policies.
In fact, from 2010 to 2019, during a decade of rapid growth in the Chinese automotive market, BYD's annual sales fluctuated between 400,000 and 500,000 vehicles. In contrast, Geely's sales increased from 370,000 to 1.36 million during the same period; Great Wall Motors saw its sales rise from 390,000 to 1.09 million…
In 2019, the Chinese new energy vehicle market experienced the largest reduction in subsidies ever. The decline in new energy vehicle subsidies, combined with some regions prematurely transitioning to the National VI emissions standard, resulted in the automotive industry experiencing its first year-on-year declines in both production and sales.
BYD's new energy sector was heavily affected. In 2019, BYD's net profit attributable to its parent company was only 1.614 billion yuan, a staggering decrease of 42.03% compared to the previous year.
Wang Chuanfu expressed, "We did everything we could, but there was no improvement." At that time, many businesses even set up stalls outside BYD to try to poach its employees at lower wages.
As time has passed, by the first three quarters of 2024, BYD's net profit attributable to its parent company has reached 25.238 billion yuan.
Looking back at BYD's rollout of its 10 millionth new energy vehicle, the first 5 million took a full 15 years to achieve; however, the next 5 million was accomplished in just 15 months.
During the press conference, Feng Ji, the producer of the game "Black Myth: Wukong," attended the event as the owner of BYD's 10 millionth new energy vehicle—the Tengshi Z9. He remarked that BYD's car manufacturing culture has always been "down-to-earth," and many people who once looked down upon or failed to understand BYD now find it hard to keep up with the company.
At the event, BYD also launched its 30th-anniversary theme song "Dare." In Wang Chuanfu's words, daring to dream, act, and persist has brought the company to where it is today. He stated, "The confidence in our daring comes from technology, and behind technology is an engineer culture." He further remarked that investing boldly in research and development is not about burning money but about saving money.
BYD spent 27 years accumulating experience and has taken flight in just three years. Through a series of trials, both failures and successes, BYD has undeniably become one of the key contributors to China's automotive presence on the world stage.
Looking towards the future, the 30-year-old BYD has announced plans to invest 100 billion yuan into developing intelligent technology that integrates AI with automotive systems, aiming to achieve comprehensive intelligence in vehicles and secure a technological edge for the future.
Although smart technology is not BYD's current leading field, there is reason to believe that its pace will be swift.
