Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Within the framework of the 6th meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation between Uzbekistan and the People’s Republic of China, co-chaired by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan A. Aripov and member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China Guo Shengkun, over 100 important documents worth US$1 billion, including documents in the field of automotive industry, were signed.

In an interview a few years ago, Elon Musk laughed when asked what he thought about the prospects for BYD. Today, it’s time to smile at the Chinese auto giant: it has confidently outpaced Tesla in global sales, becoming one of the three largest automotive companies in the world by capitalization - with announced plans to reach the first position by 2025. And just yesterday, an Agreement on the organization of BYD production in Uzbekistan was signed.

BYD’s sales growth rates amount to hundreds of percent year by year, and our country may well become not just a participant in the global transition to vehicles using new energy sources, but also do it together with the global leader. Thus, the domestic manufacturer UzAuto will be able to join not only advanced developments, but also modern principles of managing high-tech industrial production.

This historically important event for our country became possible largely due to the rapidly growing Leap Frog principle (a sharp increase bypassing intermediate stages) the pace of development of the production achievements of the Uzbek automotive industry. Since 2018, the company has managed to increase production volumes by 3 times and introduce the latest technologies and the production of the most modern car models in a full cycle.

Commenting on the event, Shavkat Umurzakov, Chairman of the Board of Uzavtosanoat JSC, noted: “There are few industries in the world comparable to our new partner in terms of R&D. There is no doubt that we will have enough both already accomplished specialists and talented young people to master the latest BYD technologies. Here it is important to remember the multiplier effect of the automotive industry as a whole: it is estimated that one job in the automotive industry creates at least seven jobs in related sectors. And this number is even higher when it comes to creating a fundamentally new niche, so the alliance between UzAuto and BYD is a new round of development not only for the industry, but also for the economy as a whole.”

It is noteworthy that for BYD this is actually the first experience of foreign industrial expansion, so the Chinese approached the choice of a partner very carefully. As a result, the choice fell on UzAuto due to the company’s record growth rates against the background of the global car market that has been stagnating for several years. It is symbolic that just days earlier the Uzbek automobile plant was recognized as the leader of the post-Soviet space.

The result of the implementation of such an ambitious project for UzAuto will be the organization in Uzbekistan of the production of a full cycle (CKD: stamping, welding, painting, assembly) of BYD cars. In addition, the terms of the agreement include a program for the localization of manufactured products - at subsequent stages, the production of engines, electric motors, as well as batteries for cars will be organized.

In order to gradually implement the production start-up program, a market research program will be launched as part of the “Trial Sales” of BYD cars in Uzbekistan from the fourth quarter of this year. To implement this stage, BYD Auto will adapt cars for the local market, including the language of the infotainment system (Russian, Uzbek).

Of course, given the high multiplicity of the automotive industry, the new direction of production will inevitably lead to the development of other related industries, and the demand for high-level specialists involved in this project will give an incentive to the younger generation to receive quality education in many areas. In addition to the most modern means of transportation, the production of cars on new energy sources in Uzbekistan will also give impetus to the growth of the number of high-class engineers, the development of technical sciences, as well as the management culture in accordance with international standards.

BYD Auto Industry Co., Ltd. ("Build Your Dreams") is a subsidiary of the multinational company BYD Co Ltd, which develops and manufactures new energy vehicles (NEV), has 8 factories in China, R&D centers, and is ranked 1st in NEV sales in the world.