BYD and Daimler to forge new JV for electric car project
It seems that Daimler have been entranced by tomorrows cars that BYD are on the verge of producing and plan to work with BYD to set up a domestic joint venture in China to build a new range of cars under a new brand. By working with BYD, Daimler gain access to technology that would have taken them years and millions if not billions of dollars to replicate, and by working with Daimler, BYD gain access to a brand that will give them legitimacy in the eyes of Western consumers, after all, Daimler is a well known brand in Western markets where as BYD has been all hype but no show, but European consumers will get a chance to look at the BYD E6 when it launches in Geneva next week.
From Business Week:
Daimler AG and BYD Co., the Chinese carmaker backed by billionaire Warren Buffett, will jointly develop an electric vehicle to be sold in China, the world’s largest auto market.Daimler, the world’s second-largest maker of luxury cars, and BYD signed an agreement to set up a “comprehensive” technology partnership to develop electric vehicles for the Chinese market, they said in a statement dated yesterday. The carmakers plan to develop a model that will be sold under a jointly owned new brand, they said.
Stuttgart, Germany-based Daimler plans to take advantage of BYD’s battery technology to help boost sales in China. Daimler said last month it will focus on cleaner technologies to take global market share from rivals Bayerische Motoren Werke AG and Volkswagen AG’s Audi brand.
“The alliance will benefit from BYD’s expertise in batteries and Daimler’s strengths in traditional vehicles,” said Frank He, who rates BYD shares “buy” at BOC International in Hong Kong. Still, BYD’s electric-powered vehicle division isn’t expected to contribute significantly to company profits for at least two years, He said.
BYD rose as much as 5.4 percent, the most in almost three weeks, to HK$66.50 and traded at HK$64.50 as of 10:11 a.m. in Hong Kong trading.
China Growth
BYD, a Shenzhen-based battery maker, entered the automobile market in 2003 and was China’s sixth-biggest car manufacturer by sales last year. The company, 10 percent owned by Buffett’s Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway Inc., introduced a plug-in hybrid car in December 2008 and said in January it will sell an electric car in the U.S. this year.
China’s auto market grew to 13.6 million units in 2009, surpassing the U.S. for the first time. While overall passenger- car sales in the country grew 53 percent, BYD’s deliveries jumped 160 percent to about 450,000 vehicles, Chairman Wang Chuanfu said in January.
“China has the potential to be among the world’s largest markets for zero-emission vehicles,” Daimler’s Chief Executive Officer Dieter Zetsche and BYD’s Chuanfu said in the joint statement.
Daimler plans to introduce an all-electric version of its Mercedes Benz A-Class this year, according to today’s statement.
Tweet This
Share on Facebook
Digg This
Save to delicious
Stumble it
RSS Feed
A marriage made in heaven.
A smart move for BYD whose foundation for automaking was built upon sand, until now.
didn’t BUildYour DreamCrap copy Daimler’s car?
Well they probably don’t even need to buy one now with this deal. How’s that for low R&D!
Probably won’t ever happen just like them having Chery build cars for them. They are just grabbing for publicity because they have nothing really. They are going to use fiat models pretty soon to fill in. Rebadging and trying to find some publicity.
I take that back. I was thinking Chrysler. This is Mercedes. Didn’t they just put a bunch of money into Tesla so they could get some of their technology too? So they must be looking for something like a really cheap electric Smart. Seems like this will be a couple year project. Don’t think they will just let a BYD electric car out of the gate too quickly.
You do realize that Warren Buffet and the GERMAN luxury brand would know a lot more than you, right? Read the article before you comment. lmao Chrysler? Ew.
You probably don’t know that the name used to be Daimler Chysler. Anyway I corrected myself so your comment just looks foolish. Mercedes cars are always bottom of the heap for reliablity anyway. They are great at making heavy cars. The kind of car people with money think they need to have so they can prove they have money.
‘Mercedes cars are always bottom of the heap for reliablity anyway’
and your calling some one else foolish?
Check out consumer reports. About half their cars are rated unreliable now. Go back 2-3 years and they all were rated bad. Looks like electrical problems in almost all of them. Ratings are worse than Ford back to 2004 and I still wouldn’t buy a Ford from all the problems I have seen with them.
Daimlers are a lot more reliable than your average American car.
“They are at the bottom (ahem) of the heap for reliability anyway” Right, according to you, one of top luxury auto manufacturers makes some of the most unreliable cars, I find that hard to believe. Especially when it’s coming from you. even if they do have the lowest reliability in the world, they are still light years more reliable than Chrysler.
Not really sure how this is China related but found a few links about Mercedes previous quality record…. Things may have changed but high cost doesn’t always mean it’s more reliable.
http://money.cnn.com/2006/11/17/autos/pluggedin_Taylor_Mercedes.fortune/index.htm
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070928150544AAQX1ZQ
Ed I have the copy of consumer reports right here. They have improved a lot the last two years but only half their cars are rated well and 3 are at the bottom. You go back to 2004 and 2005 and half their cars are at the bottom and half are just barely average rated. Look it up online if you know how to search.
Almost all of them have improved. What kind of world do you live in? Don’t you have eyes? Seriously. Just because 1 or 2 Mercedes models are not that reliable doesn’t mean the whole brand is unreliable. The most unreliable Mercedes is still better than Chrysler.
Look back and Chrysler has improved too. They were worse when Daimler owned them. Imagine that.
Don’t even talk about Chrysler, their cars were actually better 15 years ago.
Actually they never have been that great and they are improved now from back then. I owned a Mitsubish with a Chrysler engine in it. I didn’t realize it wasn’t a Mitsubishi engine until it started having problems. That was a 1995. Their designs are thought out a bit more than Chinese cars but they also tend to design too many cars off a single platform and use as many pieces from one car onto the next.
Guys, this is Mercedes (like Head Honcho said)! They have huge R&D, pls see internet news about Mercedes development in area electric/hydrogen/hybrid cars. They are already >75 years before BYD!
I think Mercedes agree to this JV to get a little bit more insight info about what is BYD cooking. Nothing else.
Of course, BYD is hoping to get something back from Mercedes, but NO CHANCE.
There will be nothing good and useful from this JV, except stocks are growing a little bit (i like this also!)
Cheers
Is Daimler really a reputable company to do business with? Their last merger/takeover with Chrysler was a shocker (which dragged Mitsubishi along with it)…. Maybe they promised BYD a corporate jet
. Who knows, maybe BYD actually have something decent going on with their battery tech which is yet to be proven by independent sources. Time will tell 
This is awesome news, more and more backbones in BYD.
European’s wants the battery tech, Chinese wants the Know-How,
no big deal.
Relax everyone. BYD is just building the dream. This stock will send my daughter to any college she wants. BYD and China are interested in changing the Made In China brand. Hooking up with non chinese companies makes it impossible to know who is who. China wants this confusion. It puts them on a level playing field but with cheaper products. Go BYD!