BYD's biggest organizational change so far this year is to let its car brands operate independently, according to local media.
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BYD (OTCMKTS: BYDDY) is restructuring its organization to prepare it for further growth in sales, a new report said.
BYD's biggest organizational change so far this year is to make its car brands operate independently, according to a report by local media outlet 36kr today.
The restructuring starts with BYD's core R&D department, and its engineering institute is planning to set up several separate divisions to cover its product lineup, including Dynasty, Ocean and Denza, according to the report.
All of BYD's sub-brands will have a separate engineering institute, the report said, citing a source.
R&D, operations and product development for all BYD brands are conducted at BYD's engineering institute, and now, in addition to R&D continuing in that department, sub-brands' projects, operations and products will be handled by independent engineering institutes, according to the report.
The organizational restructuring began at the beginning of the year, and key positions in each brand's research institute are now in place.
The heads of BYD's Dynasty and Ocean series' research institutes are basically the directors of their respective models, and the head of the research institute for Denza is the brand's former CEO Wang Fengyi, the report said.
BYD has two automotive R&D departments -- the engineering institute and the planning -- institute -- the former responsible for vehicle engineering technology, model projects and operations, and the latter like a technology provider responsible for DM-i hybrid technology, intelligent cockpit and intelligent driving R&D, according to the report.
Automakers' consideration for implementing independent institutes is usually the desire for clearer responsibility, more flexibility in the operation of each brand, and a heightened sense of competition among different brands, the report said, citing an industry source.
BYD's "family culture" and its previous first value of "equality" have led to a relatively slow pace of operations, the report said, citing several employees of the new energy vehicle (NEV) maker.
As BYD's sales increase dramatically starting in 2022, the company has implemented measures to improve efficiency.
However, for improving efficiency, organizational changes are fundamentally needed, the report said, adding that the establishment of independent research institutes for each brand is a signal that BYD wants to strengthen resource integration and improve operational efficiency.
BYD's planning institute's structure is also being adjusted to begin unifying the management of smart driving R&D tasks, after several departments of the NEV maker had R&D for autonomous driving projects, according to the report.
BYD's full-year 2020 NEV sales were 189,689 units, and that number grew to 603,783 in 2021, an increase of 218.3 percent.
In 2022, BYD's NEV sales growth accelerated significantly, seeing monthly sales exceed 100,000 units for the first time in March, when BYD announced that it stopped production and sales of vehicles powered entirely by internal combustion engines.
For the full year 2022, BYD's NEV sales were 1,863,494 units, up 208.64 percent year-on-year.
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