10:04 am, May 13, 2025
BYD’s rapidly growing dealer network has added two new sites after Arnold Clark opened showrooms in England and Scotland.
The Car Dealer Top 100 table topper has completed work on sites in both Newcastle and Ayre, taking its total number of BYD locations to seven across the UK.
Both showrooms are already open to customers and will showcase the Chinese brand’s line-up, which is expected to grow significantly over the coming months.
Craig Hood, franchise manager at Arnold Clark, said: ‘We are extremely excited to open new Arnold Clark BYD sites and be able to offer our customers even more choice when picking their next car.
‘BYD has made an immediate impact in the UK market, and our customers have loved their range of models and innovative products.
‘We can’t wait to welcome our customers to the new branch so they can experience the exciting cars that BYD has to offer firsthand.’
Car Dealer reported yesterday how BYD has set its sights on being the UK’s biggest car brand within just three years.
Appearing on the Car Dealer Podcast, Steve Beattie, sales and marketing director of BYD UK, said that the brand wants to put ‘profitable dealers’ at the heart of those plans with the firm looking to sign up with around 35 retail partners.
He told hosts James Baggott and Jon Reay: ‘BYD’s ambition was to be number one in China, going back a few years and they are now number one in China.
‘The ambition they’re constantly looking at is to be number one in the world. If you’re going to be number one car manufacturer in the world, you’re going to have to be number one in the big markets like the UK to be able to do that.’
He added: ‘We’ve got some really established players.
‘We’ve got some big groups and we’ve got some local family groups. It’s really good to have that balance between a network of PLCs and smaller groups and we’ve got one or two that are single sites as well.
‘I think originally when BYD came in, they thought they only wanted a very small amount of partners, but quickly that developed.
‘Really, we only really want maybe 35ish retailer partners because we want everyone to have, not necessarily skin in the game, but actually the opportunity to really drive the brand forward and have enough sites to make it work.’
You can listen to the full episode on Spotify or play the video above.
