"China's automaker BYD to open first U.S. plant in California."

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China's automaker BYD to open first U.S. plant in California
2013-05-02 10:17:56 GMT2013-05-02 18:17:56(Beijing Time) Xinhua English


A visitor writes on a banner during a news conference announcing the opening of an electric bus manufacturing plant by Chinese-owned vehicle manufacturer BYD Automotive in Lancaster, Calif. on Wednesday, May 1, 2013.

Chinese carmaker BYD on Wednesday announced plans to open the first manufacturing plant in the U.S. city of Lancaster, southern California.

Stella Li, senior vice president of BYD, said at a press conference that the carmaker would begin operating a plant to produce electric buses, which marks the firm's first production line in North America and South America.

"Today marks the first time a Chinese vehicle company opens a vehicle manufacturing plant in the United States," she said.

BYD, standing for "Build Your Dreams", aims to produce more than 50 electric buses by 2014. The first 10 zero-pollution vehicles, which have already been ordered by the city of Long Beach, southern California, will roll off the assembly line next May.

All those electric buses will be powered by the company's own iron-phosphate batteries, which will be manufactured in a separate plant near the bus factory in the coming months.

The company's electric bus, supported with BYD solar panels, LED lighting and energy-efficient technologies, can provide a range of over 248 kilometers on a single charge, among the highest in the world.

The arrival of the two manufacturing facilities will provide local community with hundreds of jobs as BYD expands its operations in the United States, and also represents a significant investment into local economy and in California.

When the vehicle plant reaches full production, Li said it could employ as many as 1,000 people.

But it's not just about jobs. Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris said that it is also about solving global warming.

"It brings a lot of tangible benefits. We gonna have jobs. We gonna have tax revenue, but more importantly, we are on the race to save this planet, and I think that America and China can work together on those problems and save the planet," Parris told Xinhua.

Commercial Counsellor of China's Consulate General in Los Angeles, Shu Luomei said, "Chinese government has always encouraged Chinese company to invest in the U.S., and the U.S. is a huge place. We also hope that the U.S. government would support these enterprises when they invest in local economy."

China-based BYD is a major manufacturer of rechargeable batteries in the world and has more than 160,000 employees globally. The company's U.S. headquarters are located in Los Angeles.

The city of Lancaster is a community of more than 156,000 inhabitants in northern Los Angeles County. Lancaster boasts more than 350 days of sunshine per year, making it the ideal place to pioneer new solar energy technologies.

http://english.sina.com/china/2013/0502/587263.html

May 1, 2013 at 2:02 pm
1st Chinese automaker in U.S. to open California plants

By John Rogers
Associated Press

Los Angeles — The first Chinese-owned vehicle manufacturer in the United States plans to build electric buses and batteries at plants in the Mojave Desert.

Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris and officials of BYD Automotive scheduled a news conference Wednesday to announce details of the plan for facilities in the high-desert city northeast of Los Angeles.

BYD, which opened its North American headquarters in Los Angeles in 2010, says the plant will initially turn out 10 electric buses for the city of Long Beach. It expects the vehicles, with a range of 150 miles between charges, to be delivered next year. In April, the Long Beach Transit Authority awarded BYD a $12.1 million contract for the zero-emission buses, a company statement said.

One of the world's largest manufacturers of rechargeable batteries, BYD got into the automobile business 10 years ago. It has been looking to expand into the U.S. market for some time.

Although China has surpassed the United States as the world's largest auto market, Chinese manufacturers have seen domestic sales inhibited by the popularity of cars from the United States and Japan and are looking to expand elsewhere.

"It's well known that Chinese manufacturers have been eyeing the North American market for years," said U.S. auto industry analyst Michael Robinet, managing director of IHS Automotive of Northville, Mich.

"It's probably the most important market from their perspective," he added.

But it's not an easy one to ? , he said, thanks to the need to establish a dealership network, fluctuations in international currency and the volatility and competitiveness of the market itself. So it makes sense, Robinet added, that to try to gain a foothold here BYD would be looking at building its vehicles on American soil as a means of controlling price and quality.

At one point BYD, which stands for Build Your Dreams, had hoped to introduce its e6 model electric passenger cars to the U.S. by 2010. It has since pushed those plans back.

Since it was founded with 20 employees in 1995, the company has grown to employ 150,000 people across China and in offices in Europe, Japan, South Korea, India, Taiwan, Hong Kong and elsewhere. Among its investors is U.S. billionaire Warren Buffett.

Company officials didn't immediately say how many people they expect the Lancaster plant to employ, saying only that it could be "hundreds" in the years ahead. Its North American headquarters has about 40 people.

For Lancaster, the announcement continues a partnership between the city and BYD that began in 2010 when Parris brought the Chinese company and Southern California homebuilder KB Homes together to build an all-solar-powered prototype house.

Parris, a proponent of green energy programs, successfully pressed the City Council earlier this year to adopt an ordinance requiring that beginning in 2014 all new homes come with a solar energy system.

The flamboyant mayor, better known nationally for opening Council meetings with a prayer, shutting down a hotel where a motorcycle gang was to meet and requiring pit bulls be castrated, is also a long-time advocate of developing local trade relations with China.

In 2010 he visited BYD's Solar Village in Shenzen. That same year he also persuaded the City Council to hire a Hong Kong native as Lancaster's first China trade liaison.

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130501/AUTO0104/305010437