WCA May 2011

From the americas

A new and improved version – possibly with a new name, as well – is in the works for individual car buyers. Of related interest . . . ❖ ❖ Even as the Chinese-made BYD strives for a place in the US market, auto makers industrywide are in a push for a share of the Chinese market. This eagerness on the part of, among others, General Motors – which already sells more cars in China than in the United States – is raising some concerns that the world’s car companies may be investing too heavily in China, creating an automotive bubble and setting themselves up for disappointment, at the least. Bain & Co, the Boston-based global management consulting firm, has warned that factories in China could be capable of turning out 40 million cars a year by 2015, 35% more than the market can absorb, even with exports taken into account. The cost of unused plant capacity could hurt profits and reduce the advantages of producing in China, Bain said in a November report. An even earlier reckoning is projected by a study published in January by the Netherlands-based auditing and accounting firm KPMG, which suggests that China will have too many automotive plants within five years. The industry, the KPMG analysts wrote, “may have to brace itself for some casualties.”

and affordable – are imminent in the United States. (“BYD Is the First Ripple in a Potential Chinese Wave,” 18 th February). Doubters were invited to consider the example of the American investor Warren E Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate invested $230 million in BYD in 2008. The legendary billionaire was on hand in Shenzhen to attend the Chinese market debut of the F3DM in 2010. The latest BYD models will be displayed at a Berkshire Hathaway meeting in May. Mr Berman found the build quality and materials of the F3DM to be adequate for utility-oriented Americans, even as he acknowledged the car’s minor flaws: wobbly storage compartment between the front seats, subpar floor mats, squishy handling. But to focus on these, and on the F3DM’s inconspicuous sheet metal and boring driving experience, would be, he cautioned, to miss the audacity of BYD’s strategy. ❖ ❖ “Think of the F3DM as a Chevrolet Volt [sticker price: $40,280] with a Wal-Mart price tag,” he wrote. “The F3DM is a car with a large-capacity battery that delivered 31 miles of uninterrupted pure-electric driving for me – as well as a gasoline engine that gives it the ability to go an additional 300 miles.” As for the car’s maker, BYD says the current F3DM will be sold in limited numbers to US corporate fleets.

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Wire & Cable ASIA – May/June 2011