Toyota was shocked at the speed of BYD's electric car development - Reuters
Not so long ago, it took four to five years to create a new car, from the first sketch to the assembly line. In the era of electric cars, Chinese carmakers have completely rewritten these rules: development now takes only two years, and new models are released on the market with the same frequency as smartphones or laptops are updated.
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Even Toyota, the world's largest carmaker, wasn't ready for this pace. Working with BYD on the bZ3 joint model, the Japanese were literally stunned by how quickly and differently the Chinese company is approaching car development. According to Reuters, Toyota was "shocked" by BYD's methods during the process of creating the bZ3.
BYD operates like a Silicon Valley startup. Engineers do not hesitate to make major design changes late in the project. Their approach resembles the philosophy of IT companies: "run it, then fix it." The car may not come to market in perfect shape, but it may be good enough to sell - and improve over the course of its life cycle.
This approach is alien to Toyota. The Japanese are renowned for their meticulousness: each model goes through several prototype stages, with each iteration tested with tens of thousands of kilometres of mileage to achieve legendary reliability. This is what has made Toyota the benchmark for durability.
Nevertheless, the Japanese have recognised that BYD has a lot to learn. Although Toyota remains cautious, especially about long-term reliability - it's too early to judge how Chinese electric cars will behave in 10-15 years.
The Toyota bZ3 electric sedan, equipped with BYD Blade LFP batteries, has a range of up to 600 kilometres on the Chinese CLTC cycle. But the main thing is the price: just $27,000 before subsidies. And the spacious and modern bZ3X - a joint development with GAC - costs $22,000 despite lidar, advanced Qualcomm and Nvidia electronics, and Momenta's automated driving suite.
Chinese companies, including BYD, are shortening the development cycle by:
- 12-hour workdays six days a week;
- fewer prototypes and tests;
- extensive use of simulation and artificial intelligence;
- working on components in parallel, as opposed to the traditional phased design.
BYD will sell 4.3 million cars in 2024 - half that of Toyota (10.7 million), but the pace is impressive. The company has already become the world's seventh-largest carmaker by sales and has made no secret of its ambitions to catch up and overtake the Japanese giant.
Source: Reuters