Surging automotive juggernaut BYD has just cut prices for another affordable battery-electric vehicle in China. The e2 will now be priced at just 89,900 yuan (~$12,500), down from its previous 102,800 yuan (~$14,200) price tag, roughly the same as the going rate for a ten-year-old Toyota Corolla in the U.S. market.
The base e2 Honor Edition joins the Seagull, Qin Plus DM-I plug-in hybrid, Dolphin, and Chaser 05 as the other BYD models priced under 100,000 yuan (~$13,900). Prices have been cut for all these models in recent weeks, making them more affordable than ever and continuing an EV price war that has dominated the Chinese car market for most of the last year.
Read: BYD’s Seagull EV Now Costs Under $10k, The West Is Doomed
BYD’s e2 Honor Edition uses an LFP Blade battery pack, driving a single electric motor with 94 hp (70 kW). The model has a claimed range of 405 km (252 miles) on the Chinese testing cycle and despite its scant price tag, is surprisingly well-equipped. Key features include the same rotating central infotainment display we first saw in the Atto 3, an 8.8-inch digital instrument cluster, and a heat pump, a feature not even found in many more expensive EVs.
The South China Morning Post says that the 100,000-yuan mark is viewed as affordable for low-income earners in China and it’s considered a “psychologically important threshold price.”
“BYD appears to be extremely aggressive in driving a transition from petrol cars to EVs in the country’s automotive industry,” senior manager from a Shanghai advisory firm, Eric Han said. “The cheap models will also draw middle-income consumers who have become price sensitive amid a bearish economic outlook.”
The automaker sold 3.02 million battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles last year, 92% of which were sold in its home country. However, growth has slowed significantly this year, falling by nearly 40% in February to 122,311 units, making it the slowest month sales-wise since May 2022.
