China's BYD, second only to Tesla in global sales of electric vehicles, booked a whopping 350% growth in third-quarter profit that fueled the acceleration of its overseas push, joining a slew of Chinese peers who already got a firm foothold on the global stage, especially European market.

BYD has approached three Chinese shipyards, including CSSC Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding and China Merchants Jinling Shipyard, to order as many as eight multiple pure car/truck carriers (PCTCs) to meet car export transportation needs in the future. The LNG dual-fuel PCTCs will be capable of transporting 7,700 vehicles each.

The Warren Buffett-backed company's third-quarter profit of 5.71 billion yuan broke its earlier report of 2.8 billion yuan within the second quarter of this 12 months. Sales of BYD's new energy vehicles (NEV), which include plug-in hybrids, pure battery, and hydrogen-powered models, also hit a record high of 538,704 units in the July to September quarter, up 194% from a year earlier.

The outcomes come as BYD plan an aggressive marketing campaign to catch traditional auto giants and seize a slice of a market share in the European market.

BYD, China's largest seller of EVs, aims to sell four million vehicles in 2023. To do so, Europe is the strategic fulcrum of BYD's international expansion because the region is the No. 2 market for electric vehicles. It has more room to grow than China, where competition is highly intense.

BYD has already announced a plan to launch three regional models, with the first deliveries before the end of this year.

BYD TANG, a Seven-seat SUV with variable all-wheel drive, sleek and sporty sedan BYD Han, and the Atto 3, a C-segment SUV, will be the initial model range in continental Europe.

Benelux and Nordic countries will be the initial target market of the three models, and the UK will be the second phase of the process- albeit with only one of the three vehicles.

Chinese electric vehicle makers are not limited to selling cars in Europe but also offering electric vehicle service to the European consumer.

While it is launching brand-new sedans ET5, ET7, and SUV model ES7 in Europe beginning October this year, NIO is speeding up the construction of power products such as battery-swapping stations to serve European users in countries including Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Denmark.

Nio is a pioneer of battery swapping service, which has built a competitive advantage over its rivals on battery swapping service. Instead of buying a new battery, Nio users can go to Nio charging stations to swap their used battery for a fully-charged one.

The company opened its first plant to manufacture swapping stations in Hungary in September, intending to install at least 120 battery swapping stations in Europe by the end of next year, according to Nio founder and CEO William Li.

One of Nio's partners for the manufacture of battery swapping stations is oil giant Shell, which will help open Nio's charging network in Europe to Nio users.

Other brands unfamiliar to many European consumers that have started selling or plan to sell cars on the continent include Geely's Polestar Airways, SAIC'sMG, Dongfeng's VOYAH, and Great Wall's ORA.

At October's Mondial de l'Automobile in Paris, unfamiliar Chinese car brands such as WEY Coffee, Great Wall's ORA, Seres, and Leapmotors, have showcased their latest electric vehicles, with the majority of models set to become rivals of European car brands, such as Mini Cooper, BMW X3, Audi Q series, Volvo XC40.

Based on the positive reaction of the Paris show with regard to the Chinese EVs, some local media reported that there is already some talk in France of applying import restrictions and/or higher taxation duties to try and restrict Chinese imports into the Country.

According to data from Schmidt Automotive Research, Chinese electric vehicle companies have just gotten started in Europe, with sales of all-electric vehicles in Western Europe totaling 37,700 during the first seven months of 2022, growing their share to 5%.

Geely's Polestar 2 and SAIC's MG brand accounted for almost nine in 10 of those sales because of an early start. SAIC's MG began sales of electric vehicles in Britain in 2017 and soon moved to all of Europe

The remaining was made up by companies including BYD, FAW Group, Nio, Xpeng and Aiways.

As Chinese EV companies rapidly expand their footprint in Europe, they are trying out different business strategies. While BYD and Nio have been setting up branches and hiring teams in Europe, SAIC's MG partner with car importers to sell cars in a handful of European markets, Airways and Leapmotor are using lower-cost and price strategies to sell cars in Europe, Great Wall's ORA gives special attention to advertisement and market campaign that target female consumers.

Schmidt expected that Chinese EV makers would accelerate its push in Europe in an effort to overcome a slow start to 2022. For the full year, the Berlin-based firm expects their sales in Europe to reach 80,000 to 90,000 all-electric vehicles.

At home, Chinese EV firms are facing increasing costs, disruptions from covid lockdowns and a crowded, highly competitive domestic market. On the other hand, sales of electric vehicles in Europe are growing quickly.

According to European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, now one in ten new cars sold in Europe now solely runs on batteries, this present a window of opportunity for Chinese EV and battery companies are looking abroad.

Chinese players have the competitive advantage of a fully developed EV supply chain, covering manufacturing of batteries, production of EVs and auto parts, mineral extraction. By contrast, traditional German auto makers have been too cautious and conservative, according to Julia Poliscanova, senior director at Transport & Environment.

“European carmakers have slammed the brakes on their electric car offering at a time when Chinese and American carmakers are rapidly bringing new models to the market. If Europe wants to maintain the competitiveness of its car industry, the EU must introduce a strong industrial policy of its own to match the Chinese and Americans’ muscular support for EVs,” Julia noted in a report.