SHANGHAI (Reuters) – BYD has informed China’s regulator that it is recalling nearly 97,000 electric vehicles (EVs) due to a manufacturing defect involving a steering control unit that could lead to a fire hazard, the market regulator said on Sunday.
The Chinese automaker is recalling Dolphin and Yuan Plus EVs produced in China between November 2022 and December 2023, according to a statement from the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR).
BYD did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The company would ask its dealers to install a physical fix in the recalled cars, the SAMR statement said.
It did not detail whether any of the affected electric vehicles were exported.
Dolphin and Yuan Plus were BYD’s two best-selling models in 2023, accounting for a total of 26% of the 3 million cars sold in the year, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.
BYD’s recall is a rare occurrence of its pure electric and plug-in hybrid cars, as the Chinese company quickly became the world’s largest seller of such vehicles.
In 2022, a small batch of Tang plug-in hybrids were recalled due to a defect in the battery pack that could cause a fire.
(Reporting by Shanghai and Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
