BYD bids for the top gear

• Source: Ce.cn
• [14:59 July 28 2009]
• Comments

"With its advanced technology in batteries and alternative energy, BYD can grab market share in the government's big purchase plan for new energy buses, which has huge profit potential," Jia pointed out.

Earlier this year, the government started test promotion of new energy vehicles for public usage in 13 cities. The government subsidy can touch 600,000 yuan per unit for fuel cell-based public buses.

"The move toward new energy buses may be a shortcut for BYD (which is facing a bottleneck in promoting its battery cars for mass usage) to commercialize its battery technology in the commercial vehicles segment first," said Chen Quanshi, an analyst with the Society of Automotive Engineers of China.

The company has ambitiously set its 2010 car sales target at 700,000 units, up 75 percent from its target for 2009, Reuters reported yesterday citing Henry Li, general manager of BYD's auto export trade arm.

It sold 170,000 vehicles in 2008 and aims to sell 400,000 units this year. In the first half, BYD became the fastest-growing automaker in China, the world's biggest auto market currently, with a sales growth rate of 176 percent over last year.

Early this month, BYD said it was planning to raise capital for new projects through the issuance of as many as 100 million A shares on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.