Photo by Nikkei Asian Review
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Wang Chuanfu (王传福)

Founder & CEO

BYD

POSITION

Founder & CEO

COMPANY

BYD

COUNTRY

China

Est. Net Worth

$4.1bn Forbes

SCENE

Technology

SOCIAL

LinkedIn

Facebook

Twitter

What makes Wang Chuanfu (王传福) a Global Shaker?

Wang Chuanfu (王传福) is a Chinese chemist, billionaire businessman and founder and CEO of BYD (Build Your Dream), the world’s second largest electric vehicle maker after Tesla.

The company, famously supported by Warren Buffet, has a portfolio that also extends into battery-powered bicycles, buses, trucks, forklifts, rechargeable batteries and handset components.

BYD creates numerous electric cars, including the SUV line called Tang which retails from about $35,700. Bloomberg reports that virtually all of Shenzen’s 20,000 taxis are electric BYDs, and it has 500,000 electric buses on Chinese roads.

Famously, the company says not in competition with Tesla as “Tesla is for rich people”, while BYD is “for normal people.”

Chaunfu was crowned China’s richest man in 2009 with a personal fortune worth $5.1bn. He set up BYD in 1995 after years as a Government researcher, and holds a Masters degree in Materials from Beijing’s General Research Institute of Nonferrous Metals.

China’s recent decision to cut off subsidies for the electric vehicle market comes at a worrying time for BYD, when sales are slowing: the company sold 16,000 plug-in electric cars in August 2019, 23% less than a year previously.

Tags: china, Electric vehicle

Last updated: October 4, 2019