Can China's BYD Thrive As the un-Tesla?

Unlike its American rival, the automaker is building EVs for middle-market buyers. But that means profits are slimmer

- Bruce Einhorn and Danny Lee, with Chunying Zhang, Nao Sano, and Patpicha Tanakasempipat

After PK Saxena moved from the southern Australian city of Adelaide to the tiny town of Booleroo Centre in January, the 36-year-old high school teacher found himself facing a daily commute of about 75 kilometers (46 miles) to and from his new school in rural Orroroo. So he decided to switch to an electric car. "Fuel costs really do add up when you move out to the countryside," he says.

Saxena briefly considered Tesla Inc.'s lowest-priced EV, the Model 3, but eventually settled on a metallic gray Atto 3 from a new entrant to the local market: China's BYD Co. Although little known in Australia, the company is a giant in its homeland, where it's been making vehicles for almost two decades and counts Warren Buffett as a longtime investor. Saxena expects to get his BYD delivered soon for a price of about A$47,000 ($33,000), two-thirds the cost of Tesla's Model 3. "It hits that sweet spot, where it's not expensive like some of the high range cars but has enough to get you there," he says.

Tesla and its messianic chief executive officer, Elon Musk, have captured the attention of investors and drivers around the world with one vision of the future of electrified mobility. But BYD's billionaire founder and CEO, Wang Chuanfu, is vying to transform his company, already the biggest EV producer in China's ultra-competitive market, into a major global player in electrified transport by taking a very different approach. If he succeeds in expanding internationally, it could bring a level of recognition and scale that has eluded countless other Chinese automakers.