China's BYD Auto Puts a Plug-in Hybrid on the Market There

Filed in archive Automobiles on December 20, 2008

While automakers in the US and Japan worry about how to cope with the global recession, one China car maker has made the great leap forward into the world of plug-in hybrids.

According to Business Week, BYD Auto (a SHENZHEN-based company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange) "got a jump on General Motors (GM), Toyota (TM), and Nissan (NSANY) by introducing in its home town of Shenzhen the first mass-produced plug-in hybrid, the F3 DM."

BYD introduced the plug-in at the Detroit Auto Show eleven months ago to widespread skepticism about whether the five-year-old company would be able to mass produce the vehicle. It is now for sale in Shenzhen: sticker price, about US $22,000.

The car's battery gives it a range of about 60 miles. You can drive your F3 around for the day, take it back home, and plug it in next to your freezer in the garage at night...


Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, Image# 5611497