DubiCars Personality Of The Month: Wang Chuanfu — The Man Behind BYD’s Success

In 2022, BYD Auto announced that it had sold 641,000 electric vehicles. With sales numbers of that magnitude, the Chinese car manufacturer overtook Tesla and clinched the title of the world’s largest EV manufacturer. Tesla is one of the most influential brands in the world and surpassing it is no small task. However, BYD Auto had done it.

BYD Auto is a subsidiary of the BYD Company and was founded in 2003. BYD Auto emerged after the BYD Group acquired the Qinchuan Automobile Company in 2002. Since then, the brand has grown immensely and one person at the helm has seen to it that the growth never stops.

In this Personality of The Month article, we tell you all you need to know about Wang Chanfu, the Founder, CEO & Chairman of BYD Company.

Humble Beginnings

Born in 1966 to a family of farmers, Wang Chuanfu led a simple life early on. After the passing of his parents, he was cared for by his siblings. He went on to study chemistry during the latter phase of his education, after which he began working as a researcher for the government. At the age of 29, he partnered with his cousin Lu Xiangyang and established BYD Company.

BYD Company & BYD Auto

The name BYD originally came from the Pinyin initials of the company’s Chinese name ‘Biyadi’. However, as it grew and the company had global ambitions, it formed a slogan to match — Build Your Dreams. BYD started manufacturing batteries for mobile phones and within 10 years of its existence, had captured more than 50 percent of the world’s mobile phone battery market. It currently is the largest manufacturer of mobile phone batteries in the world.

In 2002, under the leadership of Wang Chuanfu, BYD Company acquired the Qinchuan Automobile Company. The automobile business was renamed BYD Auto and with that, the brand Wang Chuanfu had built, entered the enticing automotive industry. The first car produced by BYD Auto was a five-door hatchback called the BYD Flyer.

This little hatchback was a rebadged version of the QJC7181 Flyer of the erstwhile Qinchuan Automobile Company. However, things changed quite rapidly. Wang Chuanfu, a visionary, saw to it that the company produced more attractive cars and it even branched out into other forms of transport. BYD Auto began producing buses, trucks, electric bicycles, and even forklifts.

In 2008, BYD Auto launched the first production plug-in hybrid vehicle — the BYD F3 Hybrid. Since then, the brand expanded its operations across the world and became one of the largest exporters.

BYD Cars Currently In Production

BYD e1
BYD e2
BYD e3
BYD e6
BYD e9
BYD Song
BYD Tang
BYD Qin
BYD Han
BYD Yuan
BYD Sea Lion
BYD Frigate
BYD Destroyer
BYD Dolphin
BYD Sea Gull
BYD Seal

What’s Next For Wang Chuanfu & BYD Auto?

BYD Has planned several new launches over the next few months and years. Needless to say, the brand has several plans to expand further. In order to produce more cars, the brand announced a $600 million (AED 2.2 Billion) investment in Brazil to acquire, modernise and expand an abandoned Ford factory.