By Fang Yan and Edmund Klamann
SHANGHAI, April 20 (Reuters) - China's BYD Co Ltd, a battery maker that aspires to be a leading electric vehicle producer, is in talks to supply powertrain systems to U.S. and European automakers for clean-energy vehicles, a senior executive said on Monday.
BYD Auto, a subsidiary of the Hong Kong-listed rechargeable battery maker, has developed rechargeable electric vehicles that it hopes will eventually compete with General Motors and Toyota Motor.
'We are in talks with American and European automakers to supply powertrain systems, including batteries. The idea is that we will pick one American and two European automakers,' said Henry Li, general manager of BYD Auto's export trade division.
BYD Auto, which launched its first plug-in hybrid F3DM sedan in China in December last year, is also making preparations to sell its plug-in models in the United States and Europe, with a targeted start date of 2011, Li told Reuters in an interview.
The firm has signed up 10 distributors in Europe and is seeking U.S. dealers, preferrably on the West Coast, he said, although he declined to name any potential candidates.
Potential fleet buyers in the United States include power companies, although no deals have yet been confirmed.
In Europe, Deutsche Post AG's delivery arm DHL Express, among others, indicated initial interest in BYD's vehicles, Li told Reuters last October.
Many of the world's big carmakers, including GM, Toyota, Daimler AG and Ford Motor, are racing to develop electric and hybrid vehicles that would help to ease global environmental problems such as carbon dioxide emissions.
GM aims to have its all-electric Chevy Volt ready for launch in 2010, while Honda Motor will roll out an all-new hybrid car in North America in April 2009 to challenge Toyota's market-leading Prius.
BYD, 10 percent owned by U.S. billionaire investor Warren Buffett, is scheduled to launch its first all-electric car, the E6, in China in the second half of 2009.
Its chairman Wang Chuanfu told reporters on Monday that his firm expected its auto sales to double for a second year in a row this year, to about 400,000 units.
((Reuters Messaging; jacqueline.wong@thomsonreuters.com; +8621 6401 1791)) Keywords: AUTOSHOW/BYD (If you have a query or comment on this story, send an email to news.feedback.asia@thomsonreuters.com) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
SHANGHAI, April 20 (Reuters) - China's BYD Co Ltd, a battery maker that aspires to be a leading electric vehicle producer, is in talks to supply powertrain systems to U.S. and European automakers for clean-energy vehicles, a senior executive said on Monday.
BYD Auto, a subsidiary of the Hong Kong-listed rechargeable battery maker, has developed rechargeable electric vehicles that it hopes will eventually compete with General Motors and Toyota Motor.
'We are in talks with American and European automakers to supply powertrain systems, including batteries. The idea is that we will pick one American and two European automakers,' said Henry Li, general manager of BYD Auto's export trade division.
BYD Auto, which launched its first plug-in hybrid F3DM sedan in China in December last year, is also making preparations to sell its plug-in models in the United States and Europe, with a targeted start date of 2011, Li told Reuters in an interview.
The firm has signed up 10 distributors in Europe and is seeking U.S. dealers, preferrably on the West Coast, he said, although he declined to name any potential candidates.
Potential fleet buyers in the United States include power companies, although no deals have yet been confirmed.
In Europe, Deutsche Post AG's delivery arm DHL Express, among others, indicated initial interest in BYD's vehicles, Li told Reuters last October.
Many of the world's big carmakers, including GM, Toyota, Daimler AG and Ford Motor, are racing to develop electric and hybrid vehicles that would help to ease global environmental problems such as carbon dioxide emissions.
GM aims to have its all-electric Chevy Volt ready for launch in 2010, while Honda Motor will roll out an all-new hybrid car in North America in April 2009 to challenge Toyota's market-leading Prius.
BYD, 10 percent owned by U.S. billionaire investor Warren Buffett, is scheduled to launch its first all-electric car, the E6, in China in the second half of 2009.
Its chairman Wang Chuanfu told reporters on Monday that his firm expected its auto sales to double for a second year in a row this year, to about 400,000 units.
((Reuters Messaging; jacqueline.wong@thomsonreuters.com; +8621 6401 1791)) Keywords: AUTOSHOW/BYD (If you have a query or comment on this story, send an email to news.feedback.asia@thomsonreuters.com) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.