Chennai, Oct 11 (IANS): Pure play electric vehicle (EV) player BYD India Private Ltd on Tuesday launched its premium sport utility vehicle (SUV) Atto 3.

The company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BYD, China - one of the largest EV players in the world.

"With proven and innovative technology, we are on track towards building a stronger ecosystem that facilitates EV adoption in our country. The launch of BYD-Atto 3 is a step towards this mission. We will constantly contribute to building a greener future," Sanjay Gopalakrishnan, Senior Vice President of Electric Passenger Vehicles of BYD India, said.

Sales of the new model equipped with seven airbags, a robust steel body structure, and a safety-oriented chassis design and several other features will start happening from January 2023.

"We intend to sell 15,000 units of BYD-Atto 3 in India over the next year and plan to set up a local manufacturing facility in the due course," said Ketsu Zhang, Executive Director of BYD India.

In India BYD has two plants - one for car making and the other for electronic items - involving a cumulative investment of about $200 million.

The company assembles its cars by importing the parts from China.

It started operations rolling out e6 model - a multi-purpose vehicle (MPV).

The company's plant near here has a capacity to roll out 10,000 units per year.