It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything new from China’s BYD Auto – and now we may know why.
According to a report in China Business News which cited Wang Jianjun, the deputy general manager of BYD Automotive Sales Company, the firm has decided not to put the F3e electric vehicle into production believing that there is a lack of an enabling environment for electric cars in China.
The automaker was initially focused on developing electric vehicles but changed its mind after a market investigation and consultation with dealers who still think there are problems with the supporting infrastructure. It therefore created the F3DM plug-in hybrid compact saloon car instead.
BYD, famous for being backed by US billionaire Warren Buffet, actually established three charging stations in Shenzhen in 2007 with the aim of achieving commercial production of the F3E in three years with a price below $22,400. However, the F3DM was launched first in December 2008 and the F3E was abandoned.
