Chinese BYD changing how South Africans think about electric cars

Key topics:BYD boosts EV adoption in South Africa despite challengesDolphin Surf drives sales with affordable pricingNew rivals like Geely E2 intensify EV competition.Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox every morning on weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa's bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here..By Hanno Labuschagne.Chinese electric vehicle (EV) giant BYD has made significant inroads into the South African market, despite long-standing consumer scepticism about the local feasibility of these cars.An unreliable grid, concerns about long-term EV battery life, range anxiety, and high prices have hampered the adoption of fully electric cars in South Africa.The Nissan Leaf and BMW i3 were the first mass-produced EVs to launch in South Africa over a decade ago.While model options have expanded substantially in recent years, EVs only accounted for about 0.2% of new cars sold in South Africa in 2025. BYD is quickly helping to change that.BYD’s first official sales numbers, shared with the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa) in March 2026, ranked the Chinese giant 21st among the best-selling brands.Achieving a total of 589 sales, it outsold much more established brands, including Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, and Jaguar Land Rover.Its most affordable fully-electric car made the biggest contribution. Launched in September 2025 at a starting price of R339,900, the BYD Dolphin Surf has been a local hit for the carmaker.The Surf accounted for 239 sales, roughly 41% of the 589 BYD models sold during the month. Other fully-electric cars — the Atto 3, Dolphin, Seal, and Sealion 7 — contributed another 54 sales.The five fully electric models made up just about half of BYD’s total sales in March 2026, with the other 50% coming from its plug-in hybrid models.For reference, the total number of EVs sold in South Africa’s record year for EV sales was 1,257 in 2024. The top-selling brands in the segment — BMW and Volvo Cars — sold 545 and 539 EVs, respectively.Considering the Surf was launched in September 2025, BYD may already have been South Africa’s top-selling EV brand last year. The company has not yet shared sales figures pre-March 2026..BYD wary of competition.A reputable local industry source believes that BYD deliberately withheld sales information for as long as possible to avoid encouraging rival EV heavyweights to enter the market.Showing there is increased interest in EVs prematurely could have reduced BYD’s early-mover advantage in lower-priced models in South Africa.MyBroadband asked the company for feedback regarding these allegations, but it did not provide a comment by the time of publication.It remains to be seen whether BYD can maintain its momentum in South Africa and grow sales, especially as EV competition in the sub-R500,000 price segment intensifies.Until recently, BYD’s affordable NEV offering has largely been uncontested in this price range, with only one other brand — Dongfeng — offering electrified products below half a million rand.That changed with the local launch of a major global rival to the Surf — Geely’s E2 hatchback — on 14 April 2026.Priced from R339,900 for the Aspire model, the E2 offers many advantages over the Surf, which currently costs R2,000 more.The Geely E2 has a more powerful electric motor with faster acceleration, roughly 100km more range than BYD’s entry-level option, a significantly more spacious cabin, and a larger boot.It also offers a wide range of advanced safety and convenience features that are only available on the higher-spec Surf..BYD’s charging ecosystem advantage.The car’s combination of competitive pricing, extensive features, and practicality helped make it China’s best-selling car in 2025.Geely is a fierce competitor of BYD on the global stage. In the first two months of the year, its global sales exceeded BYD’s by 70,000.While Geely’s previous attempt to break into the South African market failed, the company has come a long way from the cheap, bare-bones petrol cars it offered locally more than a decade ago.The Geely Group of today has acquired many formidable and recognisable brands, including Volvo, Polestar, and Lotus.One way in which BYD could set its brand apart is with its cutting-edge public charging technology. The brand plans to roll out 200 to 300 public chargers in South Africa in 2026.Offering free or discounted public charging for BYD vehicles could steer car buyers away from competitors.Extensive public charging facilities with excellent pricing are some of the major factors that helped push Tesla to the world’s top-selling EV brand for many years.BYD has a significant advantage over Geely with its Flash Megawatt Charging facilities, supported by its in-house battery energy storage systems..*This article was originally published by MyBroadband and has been republished with permission.

Chinese BYD changing how South Africans think about electric cars

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