Car rental company SIXT announced Tuesday it intends to order more than 100,000 electric vehicles from Chinese EV maker BYD for its European fleet the following six years.
In an initial step, SIXT orders several thousand of pure-electric vehicles from BYD, the first of which will be available for SIXT customers in Europe in Q4 2022.
Starting for customers in Germany, France, the Netherlands, and the UK, SIXT will be the first car rental company in Europe to offer BYD’s vehicles. The first model to be provided by BYD will be the fully electric, European styled BYD ATTO 3, an expressive electric C-segment SUV. All BYD models that will become part of SIXT’s fleet are well suited to the expectations and needs of European customers with a quality feel, extensive specifications and Blade Battery developed for exceptional safety, durability and performance.
The order from BYD fits in SIXT’s recently announced promise to significantly increase the share of electrified vehicles in its fleet and boost excitement for eMobility. The SIXT offering of electric vehicles in the volume segment will benefit from the cooperation with BYD in particular. The SIXT fleet in Europe will be 70 to 90 percent electrified by 2030, covering a wide range of manufacturers and models. This is an integral part of SIXT’s strategy to lead the mobility sector into a sustainable future. SIXT is also establishing its own charging infrastructure, will expand the SIXT App and the underlying ONE mobility platform to a single sign-on for hundreds of thousands of public charging points and will switch its stations and branches to CO2 neutrality by the end of 2023 already.
Michael Shu, General Manager and Managing Director, BYD Europe and International Cooperation Division: “Cooperations are a core part of the BYD business strategy. We are delighted to start our cooperation with SIXT, the car rental company with the world’s fastest-growing brand value, and a very important key partner to BYD as we take our first steps into the rental market. Our shared vision allows us to build our green dreams together, initially starting in Europe. We aim to inspire SIXT customers with our latest products and innovations in EV technology. These are exciting times for BYD, as our market leading solutions provide greater access, and more options for electric mobility. We look forward to a long and flourishing partnership with SIXT.”
Vinzenz Pflanz, Chief Business Officer (responsible for sales and vehicle purchase), Sixt SE: “SIXT offers easy-to-use, flexible, and limitless mobility to its customers every day. With over one million units produced from January to August 2022, BYD is the world’s largest vehicle manufacturer in the area of eMobility. The agreement with BYD is an important milestone to deliver on our promise of putting significantly more e-cars onto the street. We are very much looking forward to our cooperation with BYD.”
