Update: Added information from BYD's release.
BYD has signed a memorandum of understanding with an Uzbek company and agreed to study the feasibility of jointly producing electric passenger cars and electric buses in the Central Asian country.
(Image credit: BYD)
BYD's electric passenger cars and buses have already entered several international markets, and Uzbekistan could be next.
Uzbek state firm Uzavtosanoat and BYD signed a mutual memorandum of understanding (MOU) agreeing to study the feasibility of jointly producing electric passenger cars and electric buses in the Central Asian country, according to a report on the Chinese website of Russian media outlet Sputnik News on Thursday.
The two sides will also consider building a sales network and after-sales service network in Uzbekistan to provide services including electric vehicle (EV) battery repair, the report said, citing a press release.
BYD then issued an announcement confirming the signing of the MOU, saying the two sides will cooperate to promote new energy vehicles (NEVs) and facilitate the global development of the local new energy vehicle industry.
The two sides will work together to develop and produce more competitive new energy vehicle products and jointly promote the sustainable development of the global new energy vehicle industry, BYD said.
There are currently no EV production plants in Uzbekistan, and the number of registered EVs in the country is about 1,000, the Sputnik News report noted.
Uzbekistan imported 809 EVs in 2021, 6.2 times more than in 2020. The country stopped imposing duties or consumption taxes on imported EVs in July 2019, according to the report.
BYD, China's largest NEV maker, said on February 11 that its first goal this year is for it to serve 3 million NEV customers.
That hinted at BYD's target of about 1.5 million NEV sales this year, implying a 153 percent increase from the 593,700 units sold in 2021.
BYD's second goal, announced at the time, was to get its products into more countries and regions this year in order to "create a green and better tomorrow" with global customers.
New energy passenger cars are currently BYD's main business, and the company also produces electric buses.
BYD saw its 70,000th all-electric bus roll off the production line at its bus production base in Hangzhou on January 25. The 13-meter-long bus was shipped to Switzerland.
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