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Stella Li (Byd): 'We target the luxury market. We focus on technology: duties are beaten with local production'

The most powerful woman in automotive, has little doubt in defining and positioning the company and its development strategies

22 April 2025

Executive Vice Presidente di Chinese EV giant BYD Stella Li. (REUTERS/Claudia Greco)

3' min read

"Technology and innovation are the engine that drives Byd. The goal is to continue to grow and develop innovative cars'. Stella Li, executive vice president of the Chinese manufacturer, perhaps the most powerful woman in the automotive industry, has few doubts when it comes to defining and positioning the company and its development strategies. And she does so by announcing, not surprisingly at Milan Design Week, the arrival in Italy and Europe of the luxury brand Denza and its first model for the old continent: the Z9 GT (electric or plug-in hybrid).

It should be recalled that the brand was founded in 2011 as a joint venture with Mercedes to produce affordable electric and hybrid cars and limousine vans. The Stuttgart partner gradually pulled out and in September sold the last 10% and Byd, the sole shareholder, launched a positioning strategy on the higher-margin luxury and premium front.

"With Denza," explains Stella Li, whom Il Sole 24 Ore met with Special Advisor Alfredo Altavilla, "we are aiming at the top end of the market. In practice, Denza stands to Byd as Lexus stands to Toyota and openly challenges brands of the calibre of Audi, BMW, Mercedes and Porsche. These are houses with enormous coat of arms and it is well known that building a reputation in the automotive industry is a long and difficult operation, especially starting practically from scratch. However, Stella Li is not afraid of a lack of brand image because she claims that in the premium/luxury sector, technology and the ability to innovate now count much more. After all, explained the top manager, Byd, which has a turnover of EUR 101 billion in 2024 from EUR 79 billion in 2023, invested more than EUR 22 billion last year in research and development, boasts 59 thousand patents, 11 research centres and files a patent application every day with an army of researchers: 12 thousand people.

'Byd is a technology company created by engineers,' says Star Li, adding that hi-tech has to be dressed up and made elegant. In short, Byd, also with Denza, puts innovation and design back at the centre of the car. And the styling, as it happens, is taken care of, as for the Shenzhen giant's other cars, by Wolfgang Egger (father of icons such as the Alfa Romeo 8C and with an important past as chief designer at Audi. In this, too, we can see the difference between Byd and Tesla: two worlds apart, even from an aesthetic point of view.

The Denza landing includes four models, in addition to the Z9 GT coupe saloon, there are two suvs and vans.

'Denza,' says Stella Li, 'will not be alone in presiding over the top end of the range as we also plan to bring Yangwang-branded models to Europe. And here we have the U8 mega-hybrid SUV and the U9 electric supercar that has propelled the brand to third place by volume in China in the sport/luxury sector. And Stella Li doesn't seem to be hiding her ambition to undermine even Ferrari'.

In order to grow in the automotive industry, many manufacturers have chosen the path of merging and incorporating brands. Byd, however, does not want to follow in the footsteps of the Volkswagen of Ferdinand Piëch's heyday or compatriot Geely and, says Stella Li, there are no plans to acquire western brands. 'To improve our brand image position we aim at partnerships with luxury and fashion brands. In this way we can mix technology, style, elegance and desirability'.

On Byd, as on all car manufacturers, weighs the darkness of duties, both the EU duties for bevs, and the American ones wanted by Trump. "Duties always penalise customers,' says Stella Li, 'which is why we aim to expand our activities, including research and style centres, worldwide, including Europe.

She is echoed on this point by Alfredo Altavilla who points out: 'As far as Europe is concerned, our localisation plans are going ahead, in the fourth quarter we will start producing in Hungary. This is the best response we can give to the duties. The strategy is not only to start producing cars in Hungary but also to use European component suppliers as much as possible. In the US. explains Byd's special advisor, we already had 100 per cent duties introduced by the Biden administration. However, at this moment the duty discourse does not affect the positioning of premium models and we will look for the right pricing policies'.