The company expects to develop versions of its Chinese-market cars for U.S. sale at its new location, downtown Los Angeles as the location for its U.S. headquarters. Friday, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger joined BYD's Chairman, Chuan Fu Wang aged 42 on the steps of City Hall to announce the deal.
The first of those is likely to be the E6 fully electric midsize five-seat crossover--roughly akin to a 2010 Ford Edge. A version of that car, the F3DM, was the world's first plug-in hybrid when it went on sale late in 2008. Its sales, however, have been minimal only small number of unit was sold to the government for running test. In late March, BYD and Daimler said the companies would develop electric vehicles for sale in China.
BYD says E6 will reach 60 mph from a standstill in 8 seconds, and its top speed is 100 mph. The E6 is said to offer up to 200 miles on a single charge of its lithium-ion battery pack. Pricing has not been announced, but is expected to be around USD$39,000 before tax incentives.
BYD sold 450,000 cars in China last year--including the single best-selling model, its F3 compact sedan running on conventional engine, which looks remarkably like a Corolla--and expects to sell 700,000 this year. Friend of mine is using that for two years, seems there is not any technical issue so far.
BYD has previously set and then discarded dates for putting its cars on sale in the U.S. It now says it will begin to provide cars to fleet users late this year, with retail sales early in 2011. Some industry observers are skeptical that BYD will meet those dates.
Still, with investment from famed financier Warren Buffet, BYD is not a company to be ignored.
Their share price rose from HKD$14.00 from Jan 2009 to highest about HKD$84 at Nov 2009. Now at HKD$72, I am optimistic about this stock and would like to expect a Sky high of HKD98 by end Sep 2010.
Don’t miss this fast train!
