Globalization is not a one-way street. The US may have spread its tentacles across the world, but they are not gripping as tightly as they were some decades ago – in the automotive industry it was the Japanese that came back first and took what they could, and now Bloomberg reports that the Chinese will begin selling their cars Stateside as of next year too.
The first PRC-based manufacturer to do so will be BYD, short for Build Your Dreams, a relatively new automaker backed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. It has confirmed that their four model-strong range will make its debut towards the end of 2015.
This is BYD’s second attempt to penetrate US defenses, after failing to do so when it first set out to, in 2010, with a plan to sell the all-electric E6 hatchback, a model successfully used as a taxi at home.
In addition, aside from selling regular passenger cars, in March, the Chinese automaker will also be hitting the switch on electric bus production in California; another one is being planned for Sao Paulo, Brazil in the near future.
Volvo owners Geely will be next to arrive, according to the same report. They plan to ship cars co-developed with the Swedes into the US as early as 2016.
Scroll down and check out the two videos of the E6’s first arrival of US shores… five years ago.
By Andrei Nedelea
VIDEO