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Chinese automakers have been working hard to make inroads into the global market, and in particular have targeted North America as their next port of call.
With a presence at most of the recent large auto shows, these Chinese companies have been fighting against perceptions of lower quality and blatant stylistic copying of more popular brands and models.
Some of these manufacturers, such as Byd, are basing their export strategy upon offering high technology at an entry level price.
The Byd F3, an entry-level sedan with a design that is suspiciously derivative of the Toyota Corolla, is the base for one of the more ambitious projects from Chinese manufacturer Byd.
The Byd F3 DM is an ambitious play to capture the attention of environmentally conscious car buyers on a budget.
DM stands for Dual Mode, and refers to the combination of an electric drive system and a hybrid system.
Byd is offering drivers the choice of being able to either refuel the hybrid system or simply plug the vehicle into any 220 volt electrical outlet to recharge the battery for the car’s electric motor.
Unlike their styling, the entire Dual Mode system was developed in-house by Byd, who are a major global manufacturer of batteries.
The power train combines a 1 liter gasoline engine with an electric motor generating 300 lb-feet of torque. The car can even be run exclusively on the electrical motor for up to 60 miles before it needs to be recharged, which Byd says makes the F3 DM a ‘zero emissions’ vehicle.
The Byd F3 DM is currently being tested as part of the Shenzhen taxi fleet, with 200 examples to be plying the streets of that busy metropolis. Byd aims to be selling vehicles in the US within a 5 year period. For the coming year, only 2000 total examples of this hybrid will be produced.