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With just under a quarter of the exhibition space, just 33 exhibitors and significantly fewer media representatives than usual, the Geneva Motor Show is quite manageable during this year’s press day before the official public opening. We discover, among others, Marcel Guerry (64), Swiss Managing Director of Schweiter’s second largest car importer, Emil Frey, on a salon tour. Although there were no brands represented by Emil Frey in the hall.
Besides Renault and Dacia, only three other automakers are presenting in the hall: as well as Californian Tesla rival Lucid (also interesting: Lucid is showing it in Geneva), two Chinese suppliers BYD and MG. The former was founded as a battery start-up in 1995 and now employs almost 300,000 people. It ranked No. 2 in the Chinese market with more than three million new cars last year alone. Having made a successful start in some European markets, the Chinese now want to sell their products in Switzerland.
Emil Frey takes over BYD imports
We talked to Marcel Guerry about a possible import contract as BYD introduced its new products and announced that the brand would be a partner in the European Football Championship to be held in Germany in the summer. “It would be interesting to import BYD to Switzerland,” admits managing director Emil Frey. Later, in a quieter environment, Guerry lets the cat out of the bag. “Yes,” he confirms us, “Emil Frey will be the official importer of BYD vehicles in Switzerland.”
This means that the Emil Frey Group, which currently imports the Toyota, Lexus, Jaguar/Land Rover, Kia, Mitsubishi, Suzuki, Subaru brands and the Citroën, DS, Peugeot and Opel Stellantis brands to Switzerland, has signed another major agreement. Chinese company BYD is considered a major (electric) player globally and has recently replaced Tesla as the world’s largest fully electric vehicle manufacturer. Guerry enthuses about the new Chinese partner: “BYD has the greatest production depth, makes everything itself, from batteries to electronics, is not affiliated with other manufacturers, and currently has probably the best model range of all Chinese brands.”
It starts in summer
Interesting for Switzerland: When will official sales of the first BYD models start in our country? Marcel Guerry doesn’t want to give us too many details about the BYD deal at the auto show. That’s just it: Former Opel Switzerland boss Andreas Bückmann (55) will become BYD brand boss in Switzerland and will increase sales with the sporting aim of selling the first Chinese vehicles through Swiss dealers this summer.
For now we can only speculate what models these will be. But probably the 4.29 meter long Dolphin, available in Spain since last September – cheap and attractive with plenty of space, three different electric drives (95 HP/70 kW, 177 HP/130 kW and 204 HP/150 kW) a hatchback sedan. kW) and two different large battery packs (44.9 and 60.4 kWh) for a range of up to 420 kilometres. But the larger Seal, which is 4.80 meters long, has 313 HP (230 kW) or 530 HP (390 kW) and a range of up to 570 kilometers, also fits our market very well as the counterpart to VW’s ID.7. The compact models BYD Atto 3, Tang and Han, which are already successfully offered in Germany, will probably also be offered here.
However, BYD premium brand Yangwang’s U8, which was introduced as the European premiere in Geneva, will definitely not be offered for sale here. According to BYD press officer Mike Belinfante, the 5.32-meter-long plug-in hybrid behemoth, the most powerful SUV of all time with 1,100 horsepower according to BYD, will not be coming to Europe. The aim of the plug-in hybrid, which reaches 100 km/h in just 3.6 seconds, is primarily to impress Americans (and Tesla’s boss Elon Musk). After all, the Chinese off-road vehicle can not only turn 360 degrees like a tank, but also move through water up to 1.40 meters deep like an amphibious vehicle. The name BYD (Build Your Dreams) is no coincidence.
Source: Blick
I’m Ella Sammie, author specializing in the Technology sector. I have been writing for 24 Instatnt News since 2020, and am passionate about staying up to date with the latest developments in this ever-changing industry.
