Manufacturing News

China's BYD showcases clean car tech for Warren Buffett

China's BYD Co. rolled out the welcome mat for billionaire investor and backer Warren Buffett, flying him to its south China base for a series of events to showcase its clean car initiatives.

Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has profited handsomely from a 10 percent stake it owns in BYD, which has jumped nearly seven times in value since Buffett purchased it for $230 million in 2008.

BYD invited Buffett to Shenzhen for a signing ceremony with China Southern Power Grid, which will help build an energy storage power station, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Buffett, the world's third richest man with a fortune estimated by Forbes at $47 billion, also will witness the market debut of BYD's F3DM electric hybrid car nationwide, according to Xinhua, which cited a BYD spokesman.

Reuters could not attend the event due to restricted access.

Buffett, 80, arrived in Shenzhen on a jet chartered by BYD. He will attend a ceremony to mark BYD's sales of its 1 millionth car, according to the China-based Phoenix net website, adding that BYD had spent several million yuan to bring Buffett to visit its China headquarters.

Buffett is scheduled to visit BYD's plants in Shenzhen and the city of Huizhou on Tuesday, followed by a trip to Beijing where he will co-host a charity banquet with Microsoft founder Bill Gates to meet about 50 wealthy Chinese to share ideas about philanthropy, Xinhua reported.

His trip will end in with a visit to the central China city of Changsha, where he will visit a BYD electric bus plant.

This is Buffett's first visit to BYD, nearly two years after Berkshire's affiliate MidAmerican Energy bought a 10 percent stake in the company.

But BYD, whose name stands for Build Your Dreams, has seen its rising star sputter recently. In August, BYD car sales fell 19 percent even as industry sales rose 18.7 percent.

The company has cut its annual sales target by 25 percent to 600,000 units this year. Sluggish sales in the past few months and rising inventory levels have forced several BYD dealers in Beijing and other areas to pull out of its sales network, local media have said.

The company hopes to reignite growth in the fourth quarter with the launch of new models and the traditional peak season on car sales in China in September and October.

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