EV OEM sees growing demand for premium electric SUV which is assembled at its plant in Chennai.
23 Mar 2023 | 5796 Views | By Ajit Dalvi
BYD India, which launched its Atto 3 electric SUV at Rs 33.99 lakh in November 2022, has delivered over 700 units across multiple cities in the country. Though the EV brand made its debut in India in November 2021 with the five-seat E6 MPV, its first big salvo is the Atto 3 SUV. The Atto 3 targets premium customers who are in the market for a tech-laden electric SUV.
The company had delivered the first batch of 340 Atto 3s in January to its dealers to be handed over to its customers. This means the EV maker delivered another 360 units in February.
Sanjay Gopalakrishnan, senior vice-president of Electric Passenger Vehicles of BYD India, said, “As of February, we have delivered over 700 units of the BYD Atto 3 to various cities in India in just two months and have received very positive response from customers. We believe more and more customers will choose our premium electric SUV. As always, we are fully committed to the market, our customers and our dealer network.”
The BYD Atto 3 is locally assembled in India, at the company facility near Chennai. The eSUV gets features like a 12.8-inch touchscreen that rotates between portrait and landscape orientation, powered driver and front passenger seats, 360-degree cameras, digital dials, a panoramic sunroof, wireless phone charging and more. Its single, front mounted electric motor that produces 201hp and 310Nm. The 60.48kWh battery pack offers an ARAI-claimed driving range of 521km and can be charged at up to 80kW on a DC fast charger in just 50 minutes.
Priced at Rs 33.99 lakh, the Atto 3 has received over 2,000 bookings since launch albeit only 1,200 units will be available to customers in India. BYD has also introduced a limited-edition Forest Green colour, which has a premium of Rs 50,000 or Rs 34.49 lakh. The Atto 3 rivals the MG ZS EV (Rs 22.98 lakh-Rs 27 lakh) and the Hyundai Kona Electric (Rs 23.84 lakh) as well as the Tata Nexon EV Max (Rs 16.49 lakh-18.99 lakh) albeit they are not similarly priced.
Powertrain and performance
Mounted at the front axle, the permanent magnet synchronous electric motor develops 201 hp and 310 Nm. This allows the Atto 3 to do a 0-100kph run in 7.3 seconds (claimed). It packs a 60.48kWh Blade battery that has an ARAI-certified range of 521km and also gets regenerative braking.
The Atto 3’s battery pack can be charged in around 10 hours using a 7kW Type 2 AC charger and in approximately 50 minutes (0-80 percent) with an 80kW DC fast charger. Moreover, BYD has also added a Vehicle to Load (VTL) function with a power output of 3.3kW which allows the Atto 3 to power external devices.
Network expansion to 53 showrooms by end-2023
BYD India plans to more than double its dealer footprint to 53 by end-2023 from the 24 retail outlets it had at the end of 2022. Its existing network covers Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
The EV OEM’s network expansion programme kicked off this year with the opening of its second passenger vehicle showroom in Bengaluru, run and managed by PPS Motors, on January 5. On February 3, the second showroom in Calicut, Kerala, managed by EVM Southcoast, was inaugurated. On March 7, the third BYD India retail outlet in Bengaluru – VST-BYD – located on Cunningham Road opened. March 16 saw the opening of a new showroom in Noida – Landmark-BYD – the third BYD outlet to be run and managed by the Landmark Group after the ones in Mumbai and Delhi.
Meanwhile, in an effort to accelerate demand for its EVs, BYD India is partnering leading banks for financing solutions for its dealers and customers. On February 27, it inked an MoU with Axis Bank to offer a bouquet of financial products and solutions to its dealers and retail customers. Last year, it had partnered HDFC Bank to provide stock financing solutions to its dealers enabling access to inventory finance for EVs. In October 2022, a tie-up was signed with ICICI Bank for financing solutions for its dealers and bouquet of financial products and solutions to BYD India’s dealers and retail and customers.