GAC Group Exits Joint Venture with BYD

Guangzhou GAC BYD New Energy Bus Co., Ltd. underwent a commercial change on November 8, with GAC Group withdrawing from the shareholder ranks and at the same time, some key personnel also experienced changes.

Established in August 2014, Guangzhou GAC BYD New Energy Bus Co., Ltd. has a registered capital of 300 million RMB, with Chen Daohong as its legal representative. BYD and GAC Group previously held 51% and 49% of the shares respectively.

The company’s business scope includes manufacturing of automobile parts and accessories, design services for automobile parts, automobile sales, wholesale of automobile parts, installation engineering services for power transmission facilities, engineering and technical research and experimental development, energy technology research, etc. Shareholder information shows that the company is now wholly owned by BYD.

According to an announcement from the Guangdong United Equity Exchange Center, GAC Group announced in October this year that it would publicly list its equity in GAC BYD New Energy Passenger Cars held by them for transfer at a base price of approximately 104 million yuan. After the completion of this equity transfer transaction, GAC BYD New Energy Passenger Cars shall no longer be allowed to use the “GAC” name or trademarks as intangible assets and shall not continue to operate under the name of a state-owned enterprise subsidiary.

In BYD’s 2023 financial report, GAC Group’s new energy buses had very low visibility, only appearing once in the list of joint ventures with no further disclosure.

GAC Group stated that according to its commercial vehicle development plan, in order to concentrate resources, enhance competitive advantages, achieve strategic transformation and high-quality development of commercial vehicles, GAC Group publicly listed for transfer 49% equity stake in GAC BYD New Energy Buses it holds.

The report mentioned that the cooperation between the two parties originated from Guangzhou’s demand for the development of new energy public transportation primarily serving the Guangzhou bus market. According to the plan, from 2013 to 2015 over three years, Guangzhou aimed to promote 10,000 new energy vehicles including 2,000 new energy buses. At that time, BYD’s sales volume of new energy buses was considerable and they intended to enter the Guangzhou bus market. To comply with local regulations, BYD chose to establish a joint venture with GAC called GAC BYD New Energy Buses located in Conghua District of Guangzhou City. BYD provided technical support while using GAC’s logo as a local enterprise based in Guangzhou.

It was reported that over its ten-year existence since establishment,GAC BYD New Energy Buses mainly sold K8S pure electric double-decker buses and C9 pure electric coaches but both models had extremely low sales figures in the new energy bus market. In September 2024,GAC BYD New Energy Bus products accounted for less than 1% market share.

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