“Todd pooled together $20 million from a mix of lenders, keen investors and his own savings and flew to China to meet with the chairman in a bid to launch #BYD in #Australia under a third-party distributorship.

He proposed that under a new company, #EVDirect, he would convert BYD cars from left-to right-hand drive in Australia using local engineering firms.

But the chairman had a different plan. Todd says BYD would eventually pour “10-times” the amount that Todd and his lenders had stumped up to *set up the company’s first right-hand-drive assembly line* in China to service #Australia and #NewZealand.

As part of the agreement, EVDirect was granted exclusive #DistributionRights. Under a #JointVenture with retail giant Eagers Automotive, known as EVDealer Group, BYD would sell more than 50,000 cars in Australia between February 2022 and July 2025 to the value of about $3 billion.”

The UK, French, USA and Japan gave
away the Australian car market.

#EV / #ElectricCars / #batteries < https://www.afr.com/companies/transport/built-in-52-seconds-how-byd-is-using-australia-to-capture-the-globe-20251104-p5n7qs> / <https://archive.md/tdRvV>

How Chinese EV giant and Tesla rival BYD is using Australia to capture the global car market

The Chinese EV giant’s global sales exceeded Tesla’s last year and the Australian market is a key proving ground for its international success.

Australian Financial Review

“keen eyes noticed the #journalists’ video reviews seemed eerily similar to #BYD’s own glossy #marketing, also shot in the rugged South #Australian outback—the very same footage complete with local fauna starred the very same ute.

But what really set tongues wagging in the #motoring world was the fact that these pictures were not the result of the commonplace #PressJunket arranged by #car companies.

In fact, #TobyHagon and #BruceNewton had entered into what was previously a secret commercial arrangement with BYD and its Australian distributor.

Through their own private companies the #FreelanceReporters accepted the offer of a job from BYD to arrange their own outback trip, provide the company their footage, be #reimbursed for their #expenses and at the end of the day to trouser a handy little chunk of #profit.

And yet none of this arrangement had been declared to their audiences or their publishers.

So when several months ago some of those outlets caught wind something was awry in the men' s dealings with BYD they suspended their relationship with the writers.”

#BYDAustralia / #EVDirect / #AxelerateMedia / #MumboMedia / #PublicRelations / #InternalMonitoring / #deformation / #LegalAction <https://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/episodes/byd/105504496>

Ep 22 - Under the bonnet - Media Watch

The automotive journalists who engaged in a financial engagement with the carmaker they were reviewing. 

Media Watch