Could BYD’s Manchester City Partnership Indicate A Scandinavian Sales Offensive?

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BYD recently entered a partnership with the Manchester City soccer (or football) club. This is one of the top teams in the Premier League. The partnership includes supplying BYD and DENZA vehicles, along with ESS batteries. In the heavily tribal world of soccer, this will likely gain some sales from Man City fans and cost them a few sales from fans of competing teams in the UK. However, there is a potentially larger implication.

Erling Haaland. The 25-year-old forward is by far the top scorer for the team and the league overall. The 6’5” Norwegian towers over the field and challenges assumptions about what the ideal soccer player should look like, much like how Usain Bolt challenged assumptions about what an ideal sprinter should look like. I am not the biggest soccer fan (and I apologize in advance for any terminology misuse), but even I can appreciate what he brings to the game. Opponents are clearly trying to structure their defenses to stop him, but that tends to open up other players to score. Then Haaland tends to still score anyway. For an American who struggles to appreciate low-scoring defensive games, he makes soccer far more exciting.

Haaland is also easily the most popular athlete in Scandinavia. When I was in Sweden last fall, his face seemed to be everywhere. He has driven Premier League viewership in Norway in much the same way that Matsui and Ichiro drove Japanese viewership of Yankees games a decade ago. I have heard from people in Norway that he is treated like a Viking god, right up there with Odin and Thor.

Scandinavia, and especially Norway, also leads Europe in EV adoption. Norway is also not part of the EU and does not have the tariffs targeting EVs. However, BYD has not focused as much on Norway so far. Sales growth has been slower than in many other countries, like the UK. The Man City move could elevate BYDs presence in Scandinavia.

Ultimately, product will lead to greater sales, in addition to the marketing. The players were seen posing with a Denza Z9 GT, which should launch in Europe soon. Denza-branded SUVs (sold as Fang Cheng Bao in China) have also not been launched yet in Europe, but they were seen in the promotional images. What other vehicles will be launched?

With new product and a major marketing investment, BYD is positioned for potential sales growth… If it fully takes advantage of the opportunity.