Senmiao Technology and BYD to jointly promote EVs for ride-sharing

Senmiao Technology Limited, a provider of automobile transaction and related services targeting the online ride-hailing industry in China, announced the signing of a Framework Agreement with BYD Auto Sales Co., Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of BYD Company Limited, for the sale of BYD manufactured electric vehicles (“EVs”) to Senmiao and joint promotion of EVs for utilisation in China's ride-sharing or ride-hailing market.

Under the agreement, Senmiao has agreed to promote and give priority to BYD's EVs for its leasing customers utilising the vehicles for the purposes of ride-sharing, while BYD will provide favorable pricing, financial support, charging station priority, marketing, and after-sales service. As part of the agreement, Senmiao will provide an initial deposit and expects to purchase at least 5,000 vehicles from 2020 to 2021 to support expected ride-sharing growth.

Senmiao currently ranks first in the ride sharing market in large Chinese cities Chengdu (based in Sichuan Province with a population over 16 million) and Changsha (based in Hunan province with a population over 8 million). Senmiao has focused on growing its leading position in its core markets, and believes this agreement will help to accelerate its growth given the high demand for EVs and energy efficient automobiles.

In April 2020, China announced a Three-Year-Blue-Sky-Action Plan to accelerate the adoption of EVs. In addition, following the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, China extended monetary incentives and prolonged purchase-tax exemptions of new EVs through 2022.

BYD is one of the largest manufacturers of automobiles, battery-powered bicycles, buses, trucks, forklifts, solar panels, rechargeable batteries, and most notably mobile-phone batteries.

Xi Wen, Senmiao's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer stated, “We are delighted to enter into this framework agreement with such a well-regarded company as BYD as we continue to promote the use of EVs in public transportation. We feel that the combination of our position in the ride-sharing markets where we operate along with the demand for EVs in China generally will be an exceptional fit for our customers. Our goal is to provide a wide range of financing and leasing options as we build out Senmiao's network throughout China, and agreements such as this are instrumental to achieving appropriate scale.”

Weiming Zhang, the Vice General Manager of BYD Auto Sales Co., Ltd. noted, “We are pleased to partner with Senmiao and look forward to supporting the expansion of EV automobiles in the ride-sharing market.”

The framework agreement sets out the general terms of the parties intentions for their collaboration, with the goal reaching a more definitive agreement as the collaboration matures.