China's ambition on hybrids is real

AUTOS: "China's Plucky Plug-In Hybrid: BYD's car hits the stage at the Detroit auto show—but will it really be ready to roll this summer?" by David Welch, BusinessWeek, 21 January 2008, p. 064.

China's breakthrough auto companies (it's a crowded field a la 1920s America) have been coming to Detroit's big auto shows for years with their cheap-end cars (now watch India move into that space big time, with even more accelerated ambition). This time China's BYD brings a plug-in hybrid that it says will his China's domestic market this summer.

If true, BYD beats GM's promise to field on in 2010.

BYD has been in the auto biz five whole years!

But the journey from demo car to serious market presence is a long one, so skepticism abounds. So this might seem more like Doolittle's shot across the bow than a serious invasion. You need a dealer network to penetrate America, as we know, and that comes with a ton of service infrastructure.

Or does it necessarily?

We shall see. Most expect BYD can't field such a car in America with any numbers for a good four years.

Then again, I'm sure the same experts would say you can't just stand up an auto firm in five years either, so this should be a fun race to watch.

Comments

[charlie]

yeah, and the Yugo was a sign of the collapse of the Soviet Union....