Car importers from both Denmark and Norway are getting ready to introduce Scandinavians to a whole new range of automobile: The Chinese BYD brand. The Asian car manufacturer premieres on the European market at the car expo in Geneva next month, and then a rigorous regimen of safety and environmental tests will have to be passed before BYD’s current four models (the F1, F3, F6 and F8) start hitting the European streets.
BYD – or Build Your Dreams – started out manufacturing batteries and electronics in 1995, quickly switched to making cars and produced 100,000 cars in 2007, with double that production output planned for 2008. The company is counting on becoming China’s biggest carmaker by 2015 and wants to achieve global supremacy by 2025, but has recently run into criticism and accusations about copycatting foreign designs.
Danish importer Nic Christiansen Holding A/S plans to introduce the BYD to his fellow Danes some time in 2009, while Norwegian Autoindustri plans to introduce the Chinese car to their fellow countrymen as soon as possible.
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Published on this site: Feb. 16, 2008
Source: forbruker.no / bilpriser.dk