BYD Scraps Plans For Pure Plugin

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

Wonder how a formerly little known company called BYD can turn into a major player in the auto business and turn a record profit? Here is one of the reasons: BYD “has scrapped its highly publicized plan to mass-produce pure electric cars on the mainland by the middle of this year,” writes Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post.

All they’ll make will be 100 E6 electric cars to be used as taxis in the city of Shenzhen, where BYD is based. Further development of the vehicles will depend on how that test fleet will be doing. Now that is one way to delay production.

Bloomberg immediately leapt on the story, but Paul Lin, a spokesman for the carmaker, didn’t return their calls. He probably is embarrassed. On Feb. 24, he had denied a report that the introduction of BYD’s first electric car could be delayed.

BYD had announced plans to market electric and hybrid cars in Europe next year including the E6. The company also planned to start selling the E6 in the U.S. late this year. Supposedly, the E6 hatchback will be able to travel 200 miles on one charge. That claim had raised eyebrows worldwide. Guess we’ll know more after the Shenzhen taxis have been running for a while.

BYD teamed up with Daimler this month to develop and sell electric vehicles in China.

BYD had signed another electric-vehicle agreement in May last year with Volkswagen.

Maybe, both of them convinced BYD to stick with batteries and to leave the car making to them.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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 4 comments
  • Edward Niedermeyer Edward Niedermeyer on Mar 16, 2010

    Holy vaporware, Batman!

    So... what is BYD going to sell in the US? They're already teasing at least two West-coast cities with talk of headquarters and distro centers. Wo bu dong...

  • Some Guy Some Guy on Mar 16, 2010

    You'd think that since taxis are used pretty well constantly, and don't have time to "run home to momma" to get recharged between customers, using a pure electric car sounds like a bad idea.

  • Martin Schwoerer Martin Schwoerer on Mar 16, 2010

    OK, so Berkshire invested in BYD. On the other hand, Warren used to say he'd only invest in a company whos product he really understands. Would a Buffett be able to understand the technological and political implications of Li-Ion technology? I think not, and so one might be forgiven for thinking that Buffet had his eye off the ball when he sent that cheque to China. The E6 looks like a parody of a car from the inside, and slowly but surely, BYD's credibility is being shot. This will be an interesting story.

  • Shaker Shaker on Mar 17, 2010

    Actually, I find that package attractive, and the car looks OK as well. Buffet's not perfect, I suppose.

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