BYD bets bigger than a discount: ten years of free service in Czech Republic

BYD offers Czech EV buyers up to 10 years of free scheduled inspections and a year of complimentary charging, putting pressure on European rivals.

BYD has come up with a European move that goes beyond a regular discount. In the Czech Republic the brand has launched the 10+1 promotion: EV buyers are promised free scheduled inspections for up to 10 years and a first year of regular charging on the brand's tab.

The offer covers BYD electric cars in the Czech Republic except for the Dolphin Surf. Formally it amounts to five service inspections within 120 months or up to 150,000 km — whichever comes first. For the buyer this eases the anxiety around EV ownership: the car isn't just cheaper to run on paper, it gets a tangible service bonus for years ahead.

There is an important caveat. The promotion covers exactly the scheduled inspections prescribed by the manufacturer. It doesn't include replacement of wear parts, operating fluids, diagnostics, repairs or any work outside scheduled maintenance. In other words, this isn't «fully free ownership», just the removal of one specific cost item.

In China BYD is pushing an even more aggressive idea in parallel: for cars with the God's Eye 5.0 system, the brand promises to cover damages during urban autonomous driving when liability for the incident falls on the autopilot. Europe is far from anything like that, but the direction is clear: BYD is selling not just a car, but a sense of reduced risk.

For European competitors this is an unpleasant signal. Arguing with Chinese brands on design and heritage alone is getting harder when buyers start being shown a 10-year cost of ownership upfront.