Chinese automaker BYD (1211.HK) has launched hybrid vehicles with a 1,300-mile driving range for $13,800.

Yahoo Finance’s Alexandra Canal and Seana Smith break down the company’s latest move and position in a heated EV race.

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Catalysts.

This post was written by Melanie Riehl

Video Transcript

Chinese automaker Byd is rolling out cars capable of driving more than 1300 miles without refueling or recharging.

This is the company’s fifth generation of its plug in hybrid technology that can travel about 800 miles on one tank of gas.

And for context here, shaw that 1300 distance basically traveling from New York to Miami, we know range anxiety that’s been a big pain point for consumers when it comes to some of these.

So hopefully that relieves some of that pain there.

But the cost is also attractive $13,800 which is the low end for the sedan market in China.

And when you think about Byd as a company, they have been on an absolute tear right now, surpassing Tesla as the world’s largest sellers of s which is especially impressive considering the increased competition in that country, the price wars.

And you have to think that’s going to up the pressure on some of those foreign automakers that are already losing market share in China.

Yeah, and I think even just taking a look at what some of the actions that have taken place over the last several months, right Byd has clearly put pressure on so many of these foreign automakers to lower their prices.

That’s part of the reason why we’ve seen this pricing war break out, not only within China, but obviously um on an international level as well, even what’s taking place here in the US.

As many of these us automakers try to just even remain competitive with each other.

But specifically with going on in China when you have a price point, that is so low, what you were just talking about 13 to $14,000 significantly lower than many of the foreign competitors.

So it is going to make it tougher for people like or for companies like Tesla, for Toyota for some of those other larger automakers to compete within China.

And we talk about China being so critical just in terms of that growth story, that demand story and the opportunity that lies there for these foreign automakers.

So again, having these types of new vehicles here launching at such a cheaper price point is clearly going to make that battle just even tougher for the bigger names like Tesla.

And clearly, we’ve heard Elon Musk talk about that time and time again, although he does remain optimistic on Tesla’s prospects, obviously within China.