Chinese automakers in 2009

The North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) 2009 will host at least two Chinese automakers. One makes an encore appearance; a second is a newcomer to the NAIAS.

Brilliance Auto, BMW's Chinese partner, will make its first appearance at the NAIAS BYD(Build Your Dreams) is back for a return engagement.

At NAIAS 2007, Changfeng Motor became the first Chinese auto manufacturer to exhibit in Detroit. For Chinese Pin Yin system of phonetic equivalents,see "A Glimpse of the Chinese Language" www.rand.org for PDF copy free of charge as public service.

Brilliance has appeared at shows in its native China as well as in Europe, where it currently sells vehicles. The automaker intends to eventually sell vehicles in the US. In China, Brilliancd builds the 3 Series and 5 Series for BMW to sell in the country. It also builds and sells its own Zhonghua brand of vehicles. A Brilliande subsidiary builds Toyota models under license for the Chinese market.

BYD is a young firm, established in 1995 as a battery maker. It quickly has become one of the world's largest producers of rechargeable batteries and claims a 30% share of the world's cell phone battery market.
In 2003 BYD entered China's burgeoning car business by buying bankrupt government-owned auto maker Qinchan. While the automaker has established a presence at other international auto shows in China and Europe, the NAIAS is the only show at which BYD has exhibited.

BYD recently got a shot in the arm when American billionaire investor Warren Buffett's MidAmerican Energy Holdings paid $230 million for a 10% stake in the automaker to support its green technologies.
BYD, using its immerse battery expertise, is developing electric-hybrid cars that it expects to sell in China later this year,Europe and Israel by 2010 and eventually North America.

Francis Shieh a.k.a. Xie Shihao sharing such info to the readers of Sino-American Economics for possible interest.

December 5, 2008