Racco Becomes A Mini BYD Electric Car Candidate For The European Market

JAKARTA BYD opens the opportunity to present its newest petite car, BYD Racco, to the European market. However, with a note that the regulation of small vehicles in the region provides the appropriate space.

This model was previously developed specifically to meet kei car standards in Japan. Vice President of BYD Stella Li, said that in Japan the company has prepared the launch of the kei car and it wants to follow the development of small vehicle regulations in the European Union.

"In Japan, we have launched the kei car; we will be very interested in following EU regulations. If there is room, we can bring the car here," said Stella Li, quoted from Autocar, Thursday, November 20.

Racco comes with dimensions that follow the kei car provisions, which are 3.4 meters long, 1.475 meters wide, and 1.8 meters high. This car uses a 20 kWh battery with a distance of about 180 km and fast charging capabilities of up to 100 kW, which distributes power to one electric motor in the front axis.

Despite interest in expanding the market, Stella Li emphasized that BYD's current priorities are not accelerating the entry of Racco into Europe. The company is focusing on strengthening its hybrid line in various segments following the slowdown in demand for pure electric vehicles in the region.

The BYD plan coincides with a study by the European Commission which is currently working on a new category of small electric vehicles, often referred to as E-cars'. This is an effort to restore the existence of compact cars that are increasingly depressed by safety standards and technology costs.

If later entering, Racco has the potential to become the most affordable model in the BYD portfolio in Europe and compete with a number of compact electric cars such as Dacia Spring and Leapmotor T03.

However, BYD still has big challenges, considering that the kei car segment in Japan has been almost completely controlled by domestic producers. Since starting sales in Japan in 2022, BYD has also recorded limited sales.

However, Racco's presence shows a new direction of BYD's strategy in seeing small electric car market opportunities outside of its original market. As is the case, Honda will launch Super-N, an adaptation version of the electric car kei N:One, in the UK next year, although it has not confirmed plans for a wider launch in Europe.