Benzinga - by Shanthi Rexaline, Benzinga Editor.
Warren Buffett-backed electric vehicle maker BYD Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (OTC:BYDDY) (OTC:BYDDF) has been outperforming Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) in China in terms of sales. The Chinese company recently earned high praise from California Governor Gavin Newsom who was on a visit to the country.
What Happened: Newsom, a Democrat by party affiliation, was in Shenzhen on Tuesday and he took BYD’s ultra-luxury Yangwang U8 extended-range EV on a test ride, said CnEVPost, citing a local Shenzhen media outlet.
He reportedly experienced the “tank turn” feature of the electric SUV. The tank turn feature allows a vehicle to turn 360 degrees by turning one side’s wheels forward and the other side’s backward.
“This is another leap in the technology, I mean, next level leap,” the governor said of the feature, the report said.
The Yangwang U8 was first announced in January and the EV was launched in late September. Shenzhen-based BYD said the high-end model will be priced at 1.098 million yuan ($150,170) and that deliveries will begin in October.
It touted a range of up to 1,000 km for the EV and a host of features such as “all-terrain tank turns, tire blowout stabilization, and emergency flotation.
The U8 Premium Edition packs a whopping 1,200 horsepower, it can sprint from 0 to 100 km/h in just 3.6 seconds, BYD said during the official launch event.
Why It’s Important: BYD is among the frontrunners in the Chinese EV race and it also delivers vehicles globally. In September, BYD sold 286,903 new energy vehicles, an umbrella term to include both pure-play EVs and hybrids. The battery EV sale during the month was 151,193.
In comparison, Tesla. which sells only battery EVs, and delivered 74,073 made-in-China vehicles for the month. Out of this 43,507 EVs were sold in China and the remainder were exported.
Last week, BYD said in a filing that it expects its third-quarter profits to increase by 67%-102% year-over-year to 9.55 billion yuan to 11.55 billion yuan, citing strong sales and effective cost controls.
Newsom’s California has been leading the EV revolution in the U.S., with the state setting a timeline of 2035 for fully transitioning new vehicles sold in the state to EVs.
BYD’s ADRs traded over the counter in the U.S. settled Tuesday’s session up 1.41% at $63.13, according to Benzinga Pro data.
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