January 11, 2010, 08:10 PM EST
By Alan Ohnsman
SPONSOR
Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) — BYD Co., the Chinese auto- and battery maker backed by Warren Buffett, may sell a rechargeable electric car in the U.S. as soon as this year to meet demand for fuel-efficient models, the company’s founder said.
“The U.S. is a very important market for BYD in the future, and the electric vehicle is our future,” Chairman Wang Chuanfu said yesterday in an interview at the Detroit auto show. “We will start toward the market in the second half.”
Starting U.S. sales in 2010 would accelerate the timetable BYD set last year, when the Shenzhen, China-based automaker targeted a 2011 debut. Buffett’s Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway Inc. owns a 10 percent stake in the company.
BYD sees a chance to reach U.S. buyers who want cars that use little or no gasoline and cut emissions of greenhouse gases, and it faces pressure in China to develop electric vehicles for energy security, Wang said.
China’s auto market grew to 13.6 million units in 2009, surpassing the U.S. for the first time, and “it’s possible over the next five years it will grow to 20 million,” Wang said. “We’ll consume a huge amount of oil that China doesn’t have and may not be able to buy.”
Wang, 43, is to discuss details of BYD’s plans for the U.S. later today at a press conference at the North American International Auto Show. While overall auto sales in China grew 53 percent last year, Wang said BYD’s deliveries jumped 160 percent to about 450,000.
Buffett, 79, has yet to visit BYD’s factories in China, Wang said.
“I hope he’ll come,” he said.
–With assistance from Tian Ying in Beijing. Editors: Ed Dufner, Jamie Butters
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