A short story: My brother once played a simulation of competing engineering companies, rather than invest, his team sold its products at a loss until it had scooped all the orders, then destroyed the opposition. Then it raised prices.

It’s hardly original, and it appears to be being played out at a global scale by BYD with the company gaining more momentum by launching its cheapest EV in the UK.

The Dolphin Surf, priced at under £20.000 undercuts the latest offerings from the likes of Renault (the new 5). The European market is the latest onslaught following BYD’s march into the unique Japanese Kei (very small car) market earlier.

Perhaps there is an irony here, with the Chinese effectively following the Japanese gameplan of the 1970s, and one can still count the European car brands that have gone or been ‘collected’ since.

Tariffs, yet to be used by the UK as it seeks to understand its stance on China, might now be dusted off, as the EU maintains, like the US, tariffs to protect carmakers. And then there is the desire by the Government accelerate net-zero, with cheap EVs being seen as a necessary weapon to do this.

Meanwhile, BYD is also suggesting that it may bring ‘superfast’ charging to Europe, in direct competition to Tesla.

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