BYD exec says biggest challenge to expansion is geopolitics

SINGAPORE, Oct 8 (Reuters) - The ‌number one ​challenge ​to expansion for BYD is geopolitics, Stella Li, BYD's executive vice president, said on Thursday, months after ‌the Chinese company's chairman said it aims to become ⁠the world's largest automaker within five years.

• "When we do business, we ‌want to do something and ‌have certainty and visibility then we can control and then we can invest. But with geopolitics, you never understand ​what's the angle and what they are doing," said Li at the Milken Institute Asia Summit in Singapore.

• ⁠Li said the company has decided to not sell passenger cars in the ​US for now despite being in the US for "a long time" as it is "complicated".

• "We don't have ​clarity, visibility and stability there so ‌we're saying let's hold and not to go to the US for passenger cars at ⁠this moment."

• Li said BYD has no plans to partner with other Chinese companies given its leadership in various areas such as storage ⁠and solar panels. "We're a leader in multiple businesses, not only cars," she ​said.

• Li also said it's been difficult to hire enough people in China and the company hopes to use industrial robots in ‌future.

• She said BYD's stock on the Hong Kong exchange was "super undervalued" compared to US ‌companies, given that the company is an engineering firm and ⁠not just a car company.

• ‌She also said ​Nvidia remains a "very strong" chips partner for BYD.

(Reporting by Xinghui Kok; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Philippa ‌Fletcher)

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