BYD is one of Chinas’s largest non-government controlled automakers. Wang Chuanfu is chairman of BYD, a company that is 9.9% owned by a subsidiary of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. Wang has seen the price, and his net worth, go up and down as the price of the stock he owns fluctuates. According to Forbes, in [...]
Long Beach Transit Board of Directors voted to recommend BYD Motors as the provider of 10 full-electric buses for Long Beach, CA, a city 30 miles south of Los Angeles, CA. On the last day of Governor Brown’s visit to China he announced that BYD buses will be assembled in Lancaster, CA. On May 1, [...]
Lou Ann Hammond undefined: Good morning Warren and friends Today we have as a guest, Michael Austin, Vice President of BYD Co. BYD is around 25% owned by Chairman Chuan Fu Wang, and 9.9% owned by Warren Buffett’s Mid American Energy Holding Co. 50% of the stock holdings are US owned. BYD Co., a company [...]
Timothy Kuniskis, recently named President and CEO of the Dodge Brand, is the former head of the FIAT Brand for North America. Before he left Fiat, Kuniskis talked to Lou Ann Hammond, CEO, www.drivingthenation.com about the 2013 Fiat 500E. Fiat gives you two options, buy or lease. The Fiat 500E goes on sale this summer, [...]
Car companies make mistakes all the time: some on the hardware, some on the software and some on the design. The difference between an established company making a mistake and a start-up company making a mistake is the ability to bounce back financially. The issue of bankruptcy is not because the Fisker Karma is an [...]
It’s too bad that both The New York Times and Elon Musk, Co-founder and Owner of Tesla Motors, have lost sight of the story that was supposed to be written. One has to wonder how much of this Tempest in a Teapot is the new-fashioned click-through digital war this world has become. It was supposed [...]
Washington, DC – In what will probably be his last auto show as the Secretary for the Department of Energy (DOE), Dr. Steven Chu started his 2013 Washington Auto Show speech with an amazing fact, “We (the United States) spend roughly $1 billion dollars a day on foreign oil.” Acting on behalf of the Obama [...]
BMW of North America’s President and CEO Ludwig Willisch talked to Lou Ann Hammond, CEO, www.drivingthenation.com, about the BMW i concept cars. When will we finally see a production vehicle come out of all these i concept cars? Will it be a full EV, a plug-in, or an extended range, or all three. What will [...]
Volkswagen’s Vice President of Product Marketing & Strategy, Ranier Michel, talked to Lou Ann Hammond, CEO, www.drivingthenation.com, about the Volkswagen Jetta hybrid and all things electric. Michel says the hybrid will attract customers that aren’t as interested in a diesel vehicle, but still wants a fuel efficient Jetta. The Volkswagen Jetta hybrid is the first [...]
Gregory D. Bernas, Chief Engineer – Product Development Office, Toyota Technical Center, Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing, North America, Inc. (TEMA) talked to Lou Ann Hammond, CEO, www.drivingthenation.com about the 2013 Toyota RAV4 EV. In a recent article entitled 2013 Toyota RAV4 EV – The 845.5 pound elephant in the room, with Bill Fay. Gregory D. [...]
2013 Volkswagen Jetta hybrid
2013 Subaru XV Crosstrek
2013 Nissan Sentra
2013 Nissan Juke
2013 Lexus LX570