Breaking News : BYD and Chery to launch new hybrids in China

SHANGHAI : August 27, 2008 — BYD Auto and Chery Automobile both plan to begin building and selling new hybrid sedans later this year in their home market of China. So far, neither company has announced formal plans to enter the U.S. market, although Chery has a supply deal with Chrysler.


The two Chinese companies already have exhibited their hybrids — the BYD F3DM and the Chery A5 Hybrid — at auto shows in China. BYD showed a cutaway version of its larger F6DM hybrid in January at the Detroit auto show.

The Corolla-size F3DM will go on sale later this year, priced from around $14,500, according to the Chinese Web site sina.com. With this car, BYD expects to undercut the price of the Toyota Prius by thousands of dollars. The F3DM, or Dual Mode, is a plug-in hybrid with a proprietary lithium-ion battery pack that can run on either gasoline or pure electric power.

Chery plans to begin selling the A5 Hybrid in October. It displayed an updated version of the car in April at the Beijing show. Unlike the BYD F3DM, Chery's A5 is a mild hybrid, meaning the electric motor only provides an assist to the gasoline engine.

Chery has not specified the start price for the A5 Hybrid, but media speculation in China projects a base sticker of $12,000 to $14,000.

So far, Chinese automakers have no concrete plans to market hybrid vehicles in North America — but stay tuned.

[Source : GASGOO]