The Beijing Auto Show opened last week to record crowds and by most accounts has met all expectations. BYD Auto Ltd. captured many of the media headlines with a number of new products cementing their place as China’s leading New Energy Vehicle manufacturer, reinforcing its “Green Mobility” strategic vision for vehicles.
BYD’s “Green Mobility” strategic vision indicates programs both inside and outside of the vehicle for upgrading energy-saving and non-polluting technologies. The BYD Green Mobility evolution applies to conventional cars and new-energy autos equally. BYD stated that “Green Mobility” harmonizes the major issues that China is experiencing for growing demand for affordable and practical vehicle designs and eliminates the need for purchase restrictions of polluting vehicles.
Outside of the car, BYD introduced the new “5-4-2 initiative” and a series of cars designed to meet this challenging performance standard. The 5-4-2 standard respectively represents three aspects – acceleration, drive and energy consumption -- of the car: “5” means the maximum seconds it shall take to accelerate from zero to 100km/h (0-60 mph in less than 5 seconds) in future car models. “4” stands for the number of wheels under power and its cars will be integrated with all wheel drive. “2” stands for the number of liters of gasoline maximum that shall be consumed for 100km traveled in a BYD car, which will consume less than 2L gasoline / 100km.
“In the future, all BYD cars will be able to reach these three new industry benchmarks,” stated Chairman Wang, BYD’s President and CEO. The first 5-4-2 vehicle was also released at the show, the “Tang” model, a sequel of BYD Qin unveiled last year.
“Tang” has two modes for 4WD and four driving modes. In EV mode, it applies “All-time” 4WD with zero fuel consumption. In HEV mode, it applies “Real-time” 4WD and consumes less than 2L for 100km traveled. In 2015, BYD will launch the “Han” ,and in 2016, a super-hybrid, the “Ming” that will be powered by 4 independent, in-wheel driving motors, which can make one wheel steering forward while one wheel steering backward on opposite wheels to rotate literally in place. All these future BYD cars will meet the 5-4-2 standard.
“This is not just a dream. In the electronic era, we can do things we couldn’t do in the mechanical eras,” stated Wang Chuanfu, BYD’s Chairman.
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| The BYD Tang unveiled at the Beijing Auto Show 2014 |