BYD on Washingtonpost
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 known for its electric vehicles, will showcase its new Sirui compact, it’s the most expensive gasoline-powered model, priced at $24,194. The Sirui is powered by a turbocharged 1.5-liter direct-injection engine with a six-speed automatic gearbox.
BYD sells light bulbs, fleet electric cars in North America and they have just been awarded a 10-bus fleet deal with Long Beach, CA.
Unveils at the Shanghai Auto Show
It’s hard to believe that there will be more than this, but here are some of the unveils by car companies you know by name.
An Acura crossover production will be unveiled at the Shanghai auto show.
The Audi A3 sedan will make its world debut in Shanghai following a private showing on the eve of the New York auto show, April 2013. Here is Scott Keough, President, Audi of America, talking to me about the variants that will come out.
BMW will unveil its X4 crossover concept. In September, at the Frankfurt auto show, they will unveil the BMW X4 CUV production model. As one might expect, the X4 will fit nicely between the X3 and X5 and still have the performance and sportiness of a BMW.
Just hours ago Buick unveiled a concept car developed in China. This is the world debut and only one of 50 vehicles General Motors, and it’s joint ventures, is planning to unveil at the 2013 Shanghai auto show at the Shanghai New International Expo Center. Last week, on this chat, Warren said, “And the best-selling automotive brand in China is…? Buick. Beating out Volkswagen by about 6 percent in the last quarter.”
Among the products making their debut for sale in China will be the Chevrolet Cruze hatchback and Cadillac Escalade ESV. Shanghai OnStar, Chinas leading telematics service provider, will also introduce a new service for its local customers. In addition, Opel will display three new models that are coming to China in 2013.
One of the oldies, but favorite carmakers, Citroen will unveil the Wild Rubis concept for an upscale DS-badged crossover.
We heard rumblings about the Detroit Electric (DE) car company revitalizing itself, now we hear they will unveil an electric sports car called the SP:01. DE says the sports car is based on the Lotus Elise. Think of Tesla Roadster and you will have an idea of the size and look.
Ford is going gangbusters in China and will introduce a concept, and 5 production vehicles, all of which are getting launched in China this year.
GM together with Shanghai GM, SAIC-GM-Wuling and FAW-GM will showcase a record number of new models, concept vehicles and current products from the Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac, Baojun, Jiefang, and Opel brands. The products range from small cars to luxury passenger vehicles to light-duty trucks.
Honda released sketches of two concepts and two production vehicles.
Jeep will debut the new Cherokee SUV. As most of you know, Fiat owns Chrysler Group, Jeep is part of the Chrysler Group. Fiat has a joint venture with Guangzhou Automobile Group and will produce the vehicle at the plant they co-own. Mike Manley, President of Jeep, is over here, at the Shanghai auto show, to show off the Jeep Grand Cherokee and the Jeep Wrangler Rubicon.
Maserati will debut the Ghibli, a mid-sized four-door sedan.
Mazda will unveil two production cars.
Mercedes-Benz will debut a compact crossover concept, and an E class sedan with a long wheelbase. The E-Class LWB will be built only in China, for the Chinese market.
Porsche will debut it’s Panamera four-door sedan with a hybrid powertrain, alongside a long-wheelbase version for the Chinese market. If you want to see Detlev Von Platen, President of Porsche of North America, talking about 50 years of the 911 click here
Suzuki’s global debut is a compact sedan concept called Authentics. I haven’t seen any pictures but will take an authentic picture. :)
FAW and Toyota have a joint venture and will display an electric sedan concept under the new Ranz brand.
Volkswagen will unveil a four-door crossover and a 2-door PHEV cross blue coupe concept that delivers about 20 miles per charge and around 80 miles per gallon.
BYD’s Michael says that they will be showing a Qin, named after the first Emperor of China. (pronounced Ching dynasty)
They have a strategy: 3,000 engineers, 2,000 days and 1,000 patents. The codename was 321 :)
Qin is dual-mode (DM) – second-generation DM. We know this as a plug-in hybrid. First, it has a 1.5 turbo injection (TID) 0-60 in 5.9 seconds. Yes, it is a 4-door.
I haven’t seen it so I can tell you about the design but I will have a video for you.
The best part – 118 mpg on this PHEV. I will definitely get a video for you!
As we all know China has smog problems, worse than Los Angeles, CA ever had.
BYD is announcing tomorrow that they have a cabin filtering system specifically focused on China’s PM2.5 pollution problem.
A person can get in their BYD and within 3 seconds have their cabin filtered.
