From battery manufacturer to EV giant in just 30 years: Scott Jenkins, Sales and Operations Director for Autohorn, shares the experiences and insights from his recent trip to China to visit the BYD headquarters.
Back in April, I took an incredible trip to China thanks to Autohorn’s excellent relationship with BYD. I was lucky enough to be invited to join a small delegation of BYD’s European customers and experience its huge operation firsthand.
The four-day trip included visits to BYD’s headquarters, its factories, showrooms, a proving ground, and we also took in the epic Shanghai motor show. It was an inspiring, full-on tour and I wanted to share a few insights.
BYD’s growth is extraordinary
During our visit to the Shenzhen headquarters in Southern China, we met Stella Li, BYD’s Executive Vice-President and also got to visit BYD’s first ever factory, plus its museum – a fascinating insight into the company’s history.
In just 30 years, BYD has gone from a battery company to an automotive giant that employs almost a million people and is on course to become the biggest seller of battery electric cars in the world this year. And BYD’s growth continues – it is currently constructing a new headquarters about five miles north of its existing facility for 60,000 employees and increasing production capacity to 1.2 million vehicles a year.
A unique manufacturing approach
Until the trip, I hadn’t appreciated that BYD manufactures almost every part of its vehicles in-house. Aside from glass and tyres, they produce everything from chips and battery packs to wiring looms.
Seeing the manufacturing capability firsthand was fantastic and we toured several BYD factories. At the east-China Zhengzhou facility, which seamlessly blends robotic automation and manual assembly, one car rolls off the production line every 60 seconds.
The proving ground lived up to its name
A real highlight for me was visiting the Bay Area Intelligent Connected Proving Ground which was developed with investment from the Chinese government. And the track didn’t disappoint, allowing us to put the BYD cars through their paces.
I particularly enjoyed the Dolphin Surf – a brilliant little city car packed with features, great to drive, and due to launch here later this year.
The tech on the cars was also hugely impressive – we saw everything from crab-walk functionality to interior cameras with in-built beauty filters. A little play with the in-car camera means there is now a car in China with my mug shot as its operating system background image!
Dealerships are compact
The tour also included visits to BYD and Denza dealerships which were smaller than UK showrooms which surprised me, given the scale of everything else. The sites offered purely new cars, but otherwise the customer experience was consistent with the UK – operating with a combination of salespeople and technology.
The Shanghai Motor Show is on another level
Trust me when I say that Shanghai is like no other motor show – it is enormous and fairly crazy! The BYD stand was huge and striking – it featured a huge curved screen as part of a tie up with the popular Chinese video game “Black Myth: Wukong” – apparently a source of inspiration for modified EV concepts. It was a genuine spectacle and not unlike a cabaret show at some points.
As for the cars at the show – there were some new brands I had never heard of, some amazing looking… and, to be fair, some pretty awful as well. There were lots of smaller cars and off road vehicles – both of which are popular in the east. I was quite taken with Chery’s iCar which should hit Europe in 2026. It was also interesting to see how popular the German brands were, with hour-long queues for the Porsche stand.
Scott on Chinese vehicle design and production quality
The Shanghai motor show really demonstrated for me the incredible creative flair and innovation of Chinese vehicle design. There were curves on vehicles where you wouldn’t expect them, with some pretty garish – but in a good way.
I was also blown away by the high-quality materials – everything from the paintwork to the interior leather, cloth and stitching. And then there were advanced tech features like wrap around dash displays and interior personalisation.
Europe is watching the UK’s EV transition
Being part of a Europe-wide BYD delegation was fascinating. What I learnt is that Europe is really looking at the UK to see how we manage the EV transition. It seems that our European neighbours are relieved not to be mandated in the same way and are interested to see what they can learn as the UK makes a faster switch to EVs.
Reflections on being in China
It was my first time in China, and I came away genuinely inspired. As a country, it felt remarkably efficient and forward-thinking – my overriding impression is that China is setting the standard for the future of automotive.
On a personal note, the people were great – friendly and open – and the cities were clean, safe and everything worked. Plus, with EVs dominating the roads, you could hear birdsong in the middle of Shenzhen – a city with 18 million inhabitants.
I must thank BYD for the invitation and outstanding hospitality. I met so many fantastic people and I can’t recommend China highly enough – in fact, I’m hoping to take my family back one day to show them the spectacle that is China.
And if you fancy trying out a BYD….
We’ve already taken delivery of our first 50 BYD vehicles, with more on order across the Dolphin, Seal, and Seal U models. These are available now through our short-term leasing arm Flexed – I’d encourage anyone to give the BYDs a whirl, they’re seriously impressive.
