The partnership will cover 10 countries and Jamaican dealer ATL will start accepting pre-orders immediately, with deliveries to begin in October.
(Image credit: BYD)
BYD (OTCMKTS: BYDDY) entered into a partnership with Jamaican car dealer ATL Automotive on June 26 to jointly provide new energy passenger car products for the Caribbean markets.
ATL, which was founded in 1997 and has a dedicated workforce of up to 600 employees, has been the largest investor in Jamaica's automotive sector since 2010, according to a BYD press release today. The two held a signing ceremony in Jamaica's capital city of Kingston.
BYD and ATL will work together to provide passenger new energy vehicle (NEV) sales and after-sales services to consumers in the Caribbean, with operations in 10 countries.
ATL has been appointed as BYD's regional dealer for sales and after-sales operations in Jamaica. In addition, ATL will assume regional management responsibilities in nine additional countries, including Trinidad and Tobago, Cayman, Curaçao, Barbados, Aruba, Antigua, Saint Lucia, Guyana, and Suriname.
The two plan to open two BYD showrooms in Jamaica, in Kingston and Montego Bay, in order to provide local consumers with a one-stop experience of BYD technology and BYD products, according to the release.
"We will begin accepting pre-orders immediately, with car deliveries scheduled to commence in October. Then there will be a massive roll-out of showrooms across the Caribbean. The future is electric, and BYD will be Jamaica's and the Caribbean's number one EV brand," said Adam Stewart, executive chairman of ATL.
In the coming year, BYD will complete the construction of 10 stores with ATL, said Neva Zhang, country manager of the Caribbean and Central American Countries of BYD.
BYD's press release did not mention which models will first be available in the Caribbean.
This is the latest development for the Chinese NEV giant in the overseas passenger car market, where it launched the Dolphin model on June 22 with Australian partner EV Direct.
BYD sold 240,220 NEVs in May, up 108.99 percent from 114,943 units in the same month last year and up 14.23 percent from 210,295 units in April.
In May, BYD sold 10,203 NEVs in overseas markets, down 31.19 percent from 14,827 units in April.
The company stopped production and sales of vehicles powered entirely by internal combustion engines in March last year and switched to focus on producing plug-in hybrids and pure electric vehicles.
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