The initial order will include the BYD Atto 3, which will be available under the so-called Salary Sacrifice program.

(Image credit: BYD)

BYD (OTCMKTS: BYDDY), which just last week officially announced its entry into the UK passenger car market, has signed a purchase agreement with a local car rental company.

BYD entered into a partnership with UK-based Octopus Electric Vehicles (Octopus EV) on March 10, which plans to buy 5,000 BYD electric vehicles over the next 3 years, according to a press release today.

The initial order will include the BYD Atto 3, an all-electric C-segment SUV that debuted in the UK this month.

The vehicles will be offered with the Salary Sacrifice program, one of the most affordable ways to lease BYD vehicles in the UK, according to the Chinese new energy vehicle (NEV) maker.

The start of this commercial relationship lays the foundations for Octopus EV to become a BYD partner for the Salary Sacrifice scheme in the UK, with plans for further orders in the future, the release said.

A salary sacrifice program is an agreement to reduce an employee's cash compensation entitlement, usually in exchange for a non-cash benefit.

(Oliver Boots (left), chief commercial officer, Octopus EV, and Michael Shu, general manager of BYD Europe, at a signing ceremony.)

Founded in 2018, Octopus EV is a subsidiary of Octopus Energy Group, one of Europe's largest renewable energy investors based in the UK.

Octopus EV offers services including electric vehicle leasing, charging post installation, and special discounted tariffs for electric vehicles through its parent company.

On March 8, BYD announced the official start of sales of the Atto 3 in the UK, its first passenger car offered in the country.

The model will start at £36,490 ($43,230) in the UK and local deliveries will begin on March 15, BYD said last week.

The first BYD pioneer stores will open soon, in the backbone of the U.K., including Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and Milton Keynes, the company said.

The Atto 3, known in China as the Yuan Plus, went on sale on February 19, 2022, and is the first SUV on BYD's all-electric platform, e-platform 3.0.

On October 4, 2022, BYD announced a partnership with German car rental company SIXT, which committed to buying 100,000 electric vehicles from it over the next few years.

The partnership began with SIXT's initial order for thousands of BYD all-electric vehicles, and the first BYD all-electric vehicle SIXT planned to offer its customers was also the ATTO 3, according to a press release at the time.

BYD to deliver 100,000 EVs to German car rental firm SIXT over next six years