BYD Sells Just 31 Hybrids So Far This Year

BYD, the Chinese car manufacturer, may have the approval of Warren Buffett, have its petrol cars selling well with China’s emerging middle class, and have the likes of VW courting them for their lithium-ion batteries, but that doesn’t mean anyone’s actually buying the hybrid cars that they’ve garnered so much attention for. Bloomberg reports that they made just 31 of sales of their hybrid F3DM model for the first seven months of this year.

It shows that while in America and other countries with a wealthy populace, there are enough people with enough money to fork that little bit more out to get a Prius, thus saving the planet or smugly announcing their green credentials, depending on how cynical you are. But in China, a lot of people are finding they’ve now got just enough money to buy their first ever car, so they’re not going to save or pay for a few more years to get the hybrid version.

Moreover, in America it’s fine to provide subsidies for electrics or hybrids because pretty much everyone can afford to buy some sort of car; in China, as the industry planner Bloomberg spoke to said: “Some may say it’s unfair to offer subsidies using taxpayers’ money for car buyers who are relatively rich even if that helps the industry grow.” Nevertheless, Wang Chuanfu, the head of BYD, talked up the prospects of getting some government help at a conference yesterday.

But obviously America is the place for any hybrid producer to aim at, and BYD have said they’re going to move into the market there next year, starting small with just a few hundred of their “exceptionally superb” e6 all-electric, before expanding. Warren Buffett has also apparently been making noises about wanting to extend his involvement in the company; the merest hint of further investment prompted shares to rise 8%.

So hybrids are still, for the moment, the preserve of the consumer willing to invest in environmental friendliness, which in China currently number approximately zero. While it would be indeed unfair to spend money on subsidies when so many of the countries’ people can’t afford to benefit from them, China nevertheless needs to caution against creating the world’s number one car exhaust pollutant.

Meanwhile, let’s get Alec Baldwin round the BYD hybrid dealerships:

Posted by Ben Beaumont-Thomas in Green Rush | September 7, 2009 12:23PM |