News from The Standard (China):
by:Pamela Pun in Shenzhen
BYD, the world's second-largest manufacturer of phone batteries, had a problem facing many companies - once you've come to dominate or at least join the top tier of producers in any one industry, where do you turn for growth?
The Shenzhen-based firm thought it had found the answer last year when it purchased 77 per cent of a small, state-owned carmaker in northwestern Shaanxi for 269 million yuan (HK$253.32 million). Not only was China's car market booming, but BYD reckoned it could use its battery-making expertise to get a jump on rivals in the production of electric cars.
The first fruits of the effort - a fleet of electric taxis - were to hit the streets at this year's Shenzhen High-Tech Fair, now under way.
But when the fair opened, the taxis were nowhere to be found - a victim, the firm says, of the absence of national standards for electric vehicle design and manufacturing. Worse yet, there's not even a timetable for when the rules will be put in place.
BYD sales manager Wang Jianjun said the company believes it has mastered the technology needed to manufacture electric cars, but cannot proceed until national rules are set.
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