BYD Co., Ltd held a ceremony in Shenzhen to celebrate two significant milestones; BYD announced it has now sold over 1,000,000 vehicles since its start of auto business only 7 years ago and it also announced the kick-off of the launching tour of its new-energy, dual-mode-electric, F3DM for consumer sales in China. BYD President and Chairman Mr. Wang Chuanfu, BYD shareholders Mr. Warren Buffett, and Charles Munger were all present at the ceremony.
"BYD is the right choice for me and I hope it'd be the same for you," Buffett said at the event.
BYD Auto broke the Chinese Automotive Industry record this month for the shortest time to achieve 1M in unit sales. As the most innovative independent national auto brand, BYD has maintained a growth rate of over 100% for 5 consecutive years. In 2009, over 448,000 vehicles were sold, a year-over-year increase of 162%, making BYD the leader in sales among national auto brands. In H1 of 2010, BYD total sales reached 289,000 units. In July, 2010, the millionth car came off the production line and in September, BYD’s accumulated unit volume sales hit 1,000,000 units.
The second announcement described local government subsidies for new energy vehicles. The BYD F3DM is set to launch from city to city across China and at the ceremony, BYD appointed 30 new F3DM dealers to speed its promotion nationwide.
In March of 2010, the updated low-carbon version of the F3DM, with a pioneering solar panel charging system on the sunroof, started being marketed to private customers at a price of RMB 169,800 ($24,800 USD). In July, the price of the car was reduced to 89,800 RMB ($13,400 USD), with a subsidy of 50,000 RMB from the central government and 30,000 RMB from the Shenzhen local government (a total of near $12,000 USD in incentives).