Look out GM - BYD is coming to town

Chinese automaker BYD is set to begin selling the world's first mass-produced plug-in hybrid in China next month.

BYD has also said they're going to sell a plug-in hybrid in the USA by the end of 2010 - the same time the Chevy Volt is set to be released.  Moreover, the BYD F3DM (the model the company is likely to first introduce in the US) is said to get up to 68 miles in fully electric mode - better than the Chevy Volt's 40 electric miles.

As if that weren't enough to worry GM, the BYD F3DM will sell in China for $22k, which compares very favorably to the Volt's projected price of $35-40k.

 hmmm don't wanna be too much of a skeptic, but some of the chinese models of evs (one pasted below) i saw at that electric vehicle show in palo alto a few months back were a little tin-canny (in terms of body and quality of production). i'll be interested to see how their cars do or don't do well selling in an american market where there is greater demand for more "plush" vehicles.

Well the F3DM has been compared to a Toyota Corolla.  Supposedly it looks almost identical.  So it's not going to be anything fancy, but should at least be a decent looking car.  We'll see about quality.