Portland attempting to woo BYD

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From the excellent gas2.org site:

Representatives from BYD Auto met with Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski, U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith, Portland Mayor Tom Potter, Mayor-elect Sam Adams, and a host of other local dignitaries who are trying to persuade the Chinese carmaker to make Portland its distribution hub, its North American headquarters, or even its U.S. manufacturing base.

“It’s still more a dream than a goal,” says Rick Snyder, CEO of EcoMotion, an electric-car dealer on Northeast Sandy Boulevard. “At first blush, it seems like we’re a long way from Detroit. But we do have some manufacturing expertise – we should really jump on this opportunity.”

BYD representatives sound cautiously optimistic.  While remaining noncommittal, Henry Li, general manager of BYD’s automobile sales division, told Sustainable Life that he was impressed by Portland’s green reputation.

“The top factor is a place that is environmentally friendly, where people have a green mind-set,” Li said. “That’s very important.”

BYD envisions eventually selling the F3DM and F6DM in the North American market.  The cars would likely will sell in the US for $25,000 to $30,000.

The company’s immediate need is to find a location to test-drive its cars for the North American market. Beyond that, it soon will want to identify a point of entry where it can import cars made in China.

According to Jin Lan, a China business consultant based in Vancouver, Wash., BYD probably will want to eventually establish a manufacturing plant in North America, just as Japanese companies have done.

Besides Chery, BYD has to be on the most inspiring Chinese companies. BYD only came into the car business several years ago when they bought a bankrupt state car maker, thus giving them the required license to build cars, from that point on, BYD were flying.