Chinese EV giant BYD plans to enter Japan’s 18 billion USD microcar market in 2025 with a low-cost electric vehicle as part of its expanding global strategy. Atsuki Tofukuji, president of BYD Japan, confirmed in an interview with the Financial Times that the company will launch a new micro-EV explicitly designed for overseas markets and not sold in China.
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The new kei car will feature a 20 kWh battery with a WLTC range of 180 km, support 100 kW fast charging, and a heat pump HVAC system. Aimed at competing with Japan’s top-selling electric microcars—the Nissan Sakura and Mitsubishi eK X EV—it may become the first foreign EV explicitly designed for the Japanese kei segment. As microcars grew to 46.3% of Japan’s EV sales in 2022, up from just 2.6% in 2021, BYD is positioning itself to tap into this rapidly expanding market, having already sold 4,530 vehicles in Japan by March 2025.