BYD F3DM
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It's always interesting when companies change things between press releases. In this case, the vehicle we described on Friday as the BYD Chin (based on BYD's own press release)--an updated version of the world's first plug-in hybrid, the BYD F3DM--now turns out to be called the BYD Qin. Which, as the most recent release helpfully explains, is pronounced "Chin." And there you have it. BYD has provided a few more technical details of the Qin plug-in hybrid sedan that it unveiled at this week's Beijing Auto Show. The Qin is still based on BYD's F3 compact four-door sedan, which was China's...
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BYD Chin: World's First Plug-In Hybrid, Updated And Renamed
Remember the world's very first production plug-in hybrid? No, not the 2011 Chevy Volt. Not the 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid either. Way back in late 2008, it was the Chinese BYD F3DM, with a lithium-ion battery pack and a combined parallel and series hybrid powertrain inserted into the...
John Voelcker -
Reviewer Drives BYD E6: Verdict? "One Trick Pony"
Chinese automaker BYD, or "Build Your Dreams" has big plans. They had a strong presence at the recent 2011 Geneva Motor Show with a lineup of production electric cars both present and future, and the company intends to break into the U.S. market, never an easy task for a maker with little brand...
Antony Ingram -
BYD Lines up Electric Car Dealers for Late 2011 U.S. Launch
Chinese battery firm turned automaker hit the news a couple of times last week for all the wrong reasons. But less than a week after the firm was the center of a major auto scandal it has quietly started to prepare itself for a late 2011 U.S. Launch. So why is a company which previously been...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Drive Report: BYD F3DM, Chinese Plug-In Hybrid Needs Work
Chinese auto giant BYD is one of the world’s leaders in the field of hybrid vehicles, having been the first in the market with a mass-produced plug-in hybrid back in 2009--albeit in China only--and now with several small fleets of plug-in hybrid models here in the U.S. These are small-scale...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Build Your Dream, or Disaster? Wikileaks, Buffet & Electric Car Woes
An open policy of reverse engineering, doors that fall off and shady sales practices are hardly the things you’d expect of an automaker trying to make it into the U.S. market. But as newly surfaced diplomatic cables published on Internet whistle-blowing site WikiLeaks show, the battery firm...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Later today at the Detroit Auto Show, Chinese carmaker BYD will take the wraps off a new incarnation of the e6 crossover it's shown twice before. This time, however, it comes with an upgraded interior, a more powerful drive motor, and a price: $35,000 before incentives. The company hopes to offer its 2012 BYD e6 S (for 'Sport') for sale in selected U.S. markets toward the end of this year. $2,220 more than Leaf, twice the range The price of $35,000, first reported on Plug-In Cars, is just $2,220 more than a 2011 Nissan Leaf compact hatchback, which retails for $32,780, and considerably less...
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2011 Detroit Auto Show Preview: 2012 BYD e6 Electric Crossover, Plug-In Hybrid Sedans
Now that the 2011 Nissan Leaf and 2011 Chevy Volt have reached showrooms--a handful of them, anyhow--a new crop of electric vehicles will launch into the market for 2011. One of those may be the e6 all-electric crossover built by Chinese manufacturer BYD. Famed financier Warren Buffet was so...
John Voelcker -
Who Killed The Chinese Electric Car? BYD Looks Away from EVs
The F3e is officially dead. According to sources cited by China Business News, the battery firm turned electric-car maker has ceased plans for commercial production of its four door electric sedan. There has been little mention of the all-electric sedan since its plug-in hybrid sibling, the F3DM...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
More Mixed Messages From BYD, Claims E6 is U.S. Safety Ready
Chinese battery firm and electric car company Build Your Dreams (BYD) have claimed their E6 all electric crossover SUV is ready for the U.S. market. Following tightly behind an announcement at the start of May that BYD were opening a U.S. sales headquarters in Los Angeles, BYD public relation...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Chinese Electric Carmaker BYD Loves LA Too, For U.S. Offices
While Chinese car company BYD exhibited its E6 all-electric crossover at the Detroit Auto Show last January, they've otherwise been fairly quite of late. Now comes word that the company has chosen downtown Los Angeles as the location for its U.S. headquarters. Friday, California governor Arnold...
John Voelcker -
Buffet's Baby BYD Auto Is a Big Electric-Car Copycat
Sometimes Twitter is pretty wonderful. Amidst all the fluff and links and LOLs, some real gems can land. We honestly don't recall who first alerted us to an article about Chinese electric-car maker BYD from Caixin Online, but we thank you. It's an excellent article, and highly worth reading top to...
John Voelcker -
Nearing the end of our 2010 Detroit Auto Show coverage brings us to a vehicle that got a lot of media attention, though it's unclear when it will actually arrive in the U.S. That's the BYD e6 electric crossover, which could become the first Chinese vehicle sold in the U.S. The crisply styled five-seat midsize crossover is entirely electric, with a claimed range of 205 miles and a top speed of 87 mph from its lithium-ion battery pack. The BYD e6 went on sale last year in China. If confirmed, that electric range would roughly equal that of the 2010 Tesla Roadster, and far exceed that of the...
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World's First Plug-In Hybrid Sales? So Far, Not So Good
Late last year, a small Chinese company achieved a milestone: It offered the world's first mass-produced plug-in hybrid vehicle for sale. BYD Automotive, of Shenzhen, started selling its 2009 BYD F3DM (for "dual mode") compact sedan in December. So how's it been doing? Not too well. BYD said it...
John Voelcker