BYD is making inroads into Southeast Asia. The Chinese company was Singapore’s second best-selling car brand, behind Toyota, in the first half of the year. In neighboring Malaysia, BYD is the most popular EV brand and among the top 10 most popular car brands overall.

But according to the Chinese brand’s distributor in the region, BYD’s success is due to its quick adaptation to new markets, with one change in particular making the difference.

“They were one of the first Chinese brands that could [offer] right-hand drive for electric vehicles,” says Jeffrey Gan, Sime Darby Motors' Managing Director for Southeast Asia. Sime Darby Motors, the automotive division of the Malaysian conglomerate, has served as BYD’s distributor in Singapore since 2019.

Chinese cars drive on the right side of the road, and thus have their steering wheels on the left side of the car, making them “left-hand drive” models. Yet several overseas markets—Japan, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Chinese city of Hong Kong—are the reverse: Cars drive on the left, and so have their steering wheels on the right, hence becoming “right-hand drive” models.

While right-hand drive markets are smaller than left-hand drive markets, they are likely the first targets for a Chinese EV brand trying to go global.

It took a while for Sime Darby’s relationship with BYD to bear fruit. “When we started in 2019 [in Singapore] there were not sufficient offerings in terms of their products,” Gan says. Just one passenger vehicle model was available: the BYD e6, a compact multipurpose vehicle.

That changed two years ago, when BYD decided to “get aggressive outside of China”, Gan said. BYD orders grew once the Chinese EV brand launched the Atto 3, the Seal, and the Dolphin in international markets.

What is Sime Darby?

Sime Darby, No. 25 on the Fortune Southeast Asia 500, is one of Malaysia’s largest conglomerates. Sime Darby’s motors business has a footprint across ten markets in Asia Pacific, including China. The company represents several luxury continental auto brands in China and is also one of the world’s largest BMW dealers.

Sime Darby assembled its first car in 1982, making BMW and Land Rover models in Selangor. It’s mostly worked on internal combustion engines vehicles since then, but has started to get into EVs in recent years.

Besides being BYD’s Singapore distributor, Sime Darby was also appointed as BYD’s Malaysia distributor when the Chinese automaker wanted to expand into that market.

As an appointed distributor, Gan explains Sime Darby has a responsibility to bring in the cars, help grow the brand, and appoint dealerships.