BYD NO:1 FOR EV IN THE WORLD !!!, page-8

Did more research yesterday, turns out BYD doesn't own their own dealerships - the service centres and showrooms are owned by a Joint Venture between EVDirect and APE. My mistake, the articles I read made it look as though EVDirect was a BYD company and it was EVDirect that was speaking on behalf of BYD. That said, I'm still not convinced BYD gaining market share is good for APE, because I'm sceptical BYD is giving this JV the kind of generous margins that dealerships typically enjoy. The fact that BYD is promoting Kmart Tyre and Auto as a place to service BYD vehicles suggests the JV won't have a monopoly on servicing new BYD vehicles still under warranty, a traditionally lucrative source of profit for dealerships. The heavy emphasis on direct selling to the public by this JV, via a website, also suggests less involvement of the dealership in closing a sale, thus less potential for the middleman to profit.

I could be wrong again here, but the fact that BYD's approach here is different from everyone else except Tesla (e.g. promoting non-dealership new car servicing, sales process that can be done entirely via their website except for picking up the vehicle) means it's not safe to assume any dealership that's partnered with BYD will enjoy the same profit margins they typically enjoy. I am still wary of a possible future where BYD and Tesla dominates new car sales, disrupting the car dealership's lucrative profit streams in the process.