China EV-maker BYD opens Boat Quay restaurant as part of hybrid showroom
THE newest car dealership in Singapore is a restaurant in Boat Quay.
Chinese electric vehicle (EV) and technology firm BYD thinks that a more palatable way to convince car buyers is a place where food is the main course, without a real car in sight – and it’s not the only car brand trying to do things differently.
On Tuesday (Jun 13), BYD Singapore, its authorised distributor Vantage Automotive, and new BYD dealer EightX Group opened BYD by 1826 restaurant in the historic lifestyle district at 33/34 Boat Quay.
It is the last place you would expect to find a car dealership, but the fact that it is a restaurant first and car-retail space second shows how carmakers are going out of their way to get consumer attention and to drive home the message on the new way of electric motoring.
In BYD’s case, the restaurant’s food and drink are the still prime draw, but the take-away is the fact that EVs require a change in lifestyle, which BYD champions.
Liu Xueliang, BYD’s general manager for the Asia-Pacific, said that one of the aims of the outlet is to demonstrate the fact that EVs aren’t just for transport, but that the shift from internal combustion engine (ICE) cars to EVs “is not only an automotive revolution, but is a change in lifestyle”.
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From the street level, the restaurant is light on BYD branding, though the menu features some dishes inspired by BYD models and technology. The second floor, however, houses a small “experience centre” with information about BYD’s technology and its models.
EightX CEO Davin Ongsono said: “BYD by 1826 has a dual ‘automotive and culinary’ concept, and we envision this as a space where dining and EV discovery, education, engagement and purchase come together.”
If customers find the experience convincing enough, they can test-drive a BYD at a nearby location and place an order on the spot. After-sales support is provided by Vantage Automotive at its Alexandra premises.
The refurbishing was financed by Vantage and EightX, although both declined to reveal figures on the amount spent. Vantage, through Sime Darby Motors, is owned by Sime Darby group.
The restaurant reflects BYD’s new, unconventional approach to selling cars in Singapore, one which could shape the Chinese company’s approach in the region as well.
EightX is not a typical car dealer. A newcomer to the automotive business, it describes itself as a “Singapore-based asset manager and business development company”. Part-owned by Indonesian mining group Bintang Delapan, it has a portfolio encompassing agriculture, hospitality, lifestyle, real estate and other interests.
It owns six food-and-beverage outlets in Singapore, including 1826 Restaurant. This was the restaurant that previously occupied the same 33/34 Boat Quay premises, but was refurbished and rebranded to BYD by 1826.
A larger BYD retail space in Suntec City opens later this year. It will be a shared lifestyle and automotive space with around 3,000 square feet of floor area and room to display at least four cars. Further down the road, the restaurant and retail space may be joined by other outlets also run by EightX.
If those come to fruition, BYD could well become the automotive brand with the most permanent retail outlets here.
But it also reflects efforts by automotive brands to break out of the traditional automobile showrooms clustered in Ubi and Alexandra, to get their products into consumer mind-space and eyeballs.
Last year, BMW built a temporary exhibition named the i Pavilion at Ion Orchard, together with its dealers Performance Motors and Eurokars Auto. Dedicated to educating the public about its BMW “i” range of electric models, the exhibition ran from Aug 27 to Sep 18, and was rumoured to have cost a seven-figure sum.
Lars Nielsen, BMW Group Asia’s managing director, said that convincing consumers about the EV lifestyle was one of the main aims of the BMW i Pavilion. He noted that it was “important to highlight that BMW doesn’t just sell EVs. We are selling a new sustainable lifestyle that will become a reality for many people in Singapore within the next 10 years”.
Mercedes-Benz had its Concept Store at Great World, a temporary space open from April 2022 till March 2023, in partnership with its dealer Cycle & Carriage and lifestyle brand Hypebeast. The store aimed to build awareness of climate change and EVs, and was a retail point for its Mercedes-EQ electric models.
But neither German luxury brand went so far as to pair their sustainability message with serving up food. It remains to be seen how potential BYD customers enjoy the taste of its new concept, but BYD’s Liu said the new approach could inform the company’s strategy for the Asia-Pacific region.
“BYD by 1826 has its real start here in Singapore; it’s the first time we are doing something like this,” he told The Business Times through an interpreter. “But we are looking at this type of partnership to be a spearhead, to be a lifestyle-driven method of selling cars in future.”
In any case, the appetite for BYD in Singapore has so far proven healthy.
BYD recently dethroned Tesla as the top seller of passenger EVs in Singapore. In the first five months of 2023, it registered 303 cars, compared to second place Tesla, which registered 283. BMW, in third place, registered 249 EVs here.
Later this year, BYD will launch its smallest – and potentially cheapest – EV to date, the Dolphin hatchback.
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