{"id":151010,"date":"2025-07-27T17:00:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T00:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=151010"},"modified":"2025-07-27T17:00:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T00:00:10","slug":"how-chinas-big-winner-byd-conquered-sri-lankas-high-tariff-car-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2025\/07\/27\/how-chinas-big-winner-byd-conquered-sri-lankas-high-tariff-car-market\/","title":{"rendered":"How China\u2019s \u2018big winner\u2019 BYD conquered Sri Lanka\u2019s high-tariff car market"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em>Courtesy The South China Morning Post<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">After a five-year import ban, BYD shrewdly adapted its models to circumvent sky-high taxes, making electric vehicles affordable again<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/author\/dimuthu-attanayake\">Dimuthu Attanayake<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Published:&nbsp;5:00pm, 26 Jul 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Updated:&nbsp;5:00pm, 26 Jul 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.i-scmp.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/652x446\/public\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2025\/07\/26\/20d10b42-31a7-467e-86fa-4707c7ec1f35_de0c7ebb.jpg?itok=4RT2SaYM&amp;v=1753492283\">A BYD Seal electric vehicle on display in a showroom in Pakistan. BYD accounted for roughly 90 per cent of fellow South Asian nation Sri Lanka\u2019s EV sales in May. Photo: Reuters<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Aggressive pricing, shrewd tax engineering and a trusted local partner have propelled China\u2019s BYD to a commanding position in&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/sri-lanka?module=inline&amp;pgtype=others\">Sri Lanka<\/a>\u2019s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/electric-cars?module=inline&amp;pgtype=others\">electric vehicle<\/a>&nbsp;and hybrid market, disrupting a sector long constrained by import restrictions and setting the stage for dramatic expansion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sri Lanka\u2019s car market, starved of new imports for nearly five years under a sweeping ban imposed in the lead up to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/asia\/south-asia\/article\/3173989\/crisis-hit-sri-lanka-defaults-all-foreign-debt-save-dollars?module=inline&amp;pgtype=others\">the economic crisis of 2022<\/a>&nbsp;to stabilise foreign reserves, reopened in February as the government lifted restrictions. But a new tariff regime \u2013 with excise duties reaching 300 per cent, 18 per cent value-added tax, and luxury taxes of up to 100 per cent \u2013 has sent car prices soaring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Courtesy The South China Morning Post After a five-year import ban, BYD shrewdly adapted its models to circumvent sky-high taxes, making electric vehicles affordable again Dimuthu Attanayake Published:&nbsp;5:00pm, 26 Jul 2025 Updated:&nbsp;5:00pm, 26 Jul 2025 A BYD Seal electric vehicle on display in a showroom in Pakistan. BYD accounted for roughly 90 per cent of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-151010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151010\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}